All picture by Virginia Monteforte for Inizjamed
At this year’s 18th edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival organized by Inizjamed I had the honour and the great pleasure of interviewing the amazing Palestinian novelist Adania Shibli, At this year’s 18th edition of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival organized by Inizjamed I had the honour and the great pleasure of interviewing the amazing Palestinian novelist Adania Shibli, a gentle soul and uncompromising writer.
The questions I asked were based on my reading of her ingenious short story in Arabic published in English in 2021, “This Sea is Mohammad al-Khatib’s,” and her three novels in Arabic translated into English as Touch (2002), We are all equally far from love (2004), and of course, Minor Detail (2017), published by Fitzcarraldo. Simone Inguanez read her translation into Maltese of the first part of Adania’s short story about Mohammad, the Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank and imprisoned in Gaza, and their longing for the sea.
In an interview she gave to Mireille Juchau three years ago, Adania explained that she knows Arabic, English, Hebrew, French, Korean, and German, but she only writes fiction in Arabic because “this language is a witch — an amazing, funny, crazy, generous, and forgiving witch.” That quip reminded me of two great Arabophone Maltese writers, Walid Nabhan and Murad Shubert.
Adania’s answers were as intelligent and generous as you would expect from such a clear-headed intellectual, accomplished writer, and eloquent speaker. Which is probably why I only got to ask her less than half of the questions that I had prepared.
I could have sat there for hours to listen to her speak about the process of writing, the adventures of voice and plot, the intersection of history and literature, the deep wounds of disenfranchised Palestinians, and what the violence and lies of a brutal colonisation do to the coloniser.
But a couple got married somewhere close by and decided to share their their pyrotechnic spectacle with the stage and audience of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival. Who knows what would have happened had they they not interrupted us with their joy.
I started off by thanking her for being such a gentle soul and uncompromising writer. The questions I asked were based on my reading of her ingenious short story in Arabic published in English in 2021, “This Sea is Mohammad al-Khatib’s,” and her three novels in Arabic translated into English as Touch (2002), We are all equally far from love (2004), and of course, Minor Detail (2017), published by Fitzcarraldo.
Adania’s answers were as intelligent and generous as you would expect from such a clear-headed intellectual, accomplished writer, and eloquent speaker. Which is probably why I only got to ask her less than half of the questions that I had prepared. I could have sat there for hours to listen to her speak about the process of writing, the adventures of voice and plot, the intersection between historical and literary narratives, the deep wounds of disenfranchised Palestinians, and what the violence and lies of a brutal colonisation do to the coloniser.
But a couple got married somewhere close by, perhaps on the other side of the Grand Harbour, and shared their pyrotechnic spectacle with the stage and the audience of the Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival.
Thanks to Samwel for the picture taken after the interview and to Virginia Monteforte and Inizjamed for the pictures taken on stage.
adriangrima.org 