You are invited to attend a writing workshop based on Palestinian folktales. The workshop will be led by researcher and literary critic Sanabel Abdel Rahman, and is related to the screening of films by Palestinian authors Arwa Aburaw and Turab Shah, and Inas Halabi, shown as part of the From the Land’s Living Pulse series at +MSUM the day before.

During this three-hour workshop, the participants will read Palestinian folktales to prompt a discussion around magical instances in folktales, literature, and film. Drawing from a selection of Palestinian folktales, they will explore magical terrains that emerge in the hero(ine)’s journey. What does it mean to discover a magical city in Palestine’s underground? What magical powers do enchanted wells give the protagonist during their quest for justice? If we apply these frames to From the Land’s Living Pulse series, what overlaps can we trace? How do the folktales' magical elements echo the magical-realist geographies in the series?

© Samara Sallam

Sanabel Abdel Rahman is a researcher and a literary critic. She holds a Ph.D. in Arabic literature with a focus on Palestinian magical realism. In addition to her academic work, she designs and leads workshops around Arabic magical realism in film and literature, folktales, and speculative writing. Sanabel is interested in practices of liberatory and collective imagination(s), (re)connecting to the land, decolonial writing, and activating alternative realities. Her fiction texts and essays in English and Arabic have appeared in e-magazines, zines, and art exhibitions.

The workshop is free, but the number of participants is limited.

Please register at recepcija.msum@mg-lj.si.