A bi-lingual program featuring the highly acclaimed work of Palestinian poet and short story writer Taha Muhammed Ali (1921-2011).
Born in rural Galilee, Taha Muhammed Ali was forced to flee to Lebanon along with his family when their village came under heavy bombardment during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The following year he returned and settled in Nazareth. Although his formal schooling had lasted only four years, Taha began reading Arabic and English literature in an effort to educate himself. He commenced writing and publishing short stories in the 1950s, and poetry in the 1970s. Eschewing the direct approach adopted in the 'poetry of resistance' of his peers, but flowing from the same history of shared loss, he has created a body of work that is compelling, evocative and universal in its examination of belonging and being.