Rabat – Read My World, Amsterdam’s international literature festival, is entirely dedicated to Morocco this year.
Read My World finds this year a fitting time to highlight Morocco, as 2019 marks 50 years since Morocco and the Netherlands signed a recruitment treaty, leading to an influx of Moroccans immigrating to the Netherlands.
The festival will “not only cover stories about labor migration, but also the stories about social life, culture, traditions and the future. Stories from and for all Dutch people with and without a migration background.” Read My World will examine how these stories are portrayed in literature, theater, poetry, music, and film.
The seventh annual festival will gather a wide range of poets, novelists, artists, and activists to “explore the boundaries between literature and journalism, between here and there – and draw attention to everything in between.”
Two Moroccans have been appointed curators of the festival, novelist Mahi Binebine and journalist Fedwa Misk. As curators, they will propose a list of authors to invite and create the program.
Misk will be heading a festival preview on April 16, with a focus on feminism in the Maghreb. Misk will also announce which writers and poets will attend the festival and discuss what topics will be addressed during the festival, such as feminism in Morocco and the role of the female voice in contemporary literature.
On April 18, Misk, who has worked as a journalist for Le Courier de L’Atlas (The Atlas Courier) and runs the popular feminist blog Qandisha, will hold a meet and greet. Misk will discuss the impact of the written word in Morocco today and what her own work has brought about in the past year.
The festival will preview for the third and final time on May 28. The preview will focus on the “Maghreb and Prose” and bring together writers and performers for “inspiring talks and conversation.”
The official festival will take place from October 10 to 12, 2019, at the Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam. Each year, the festival focuses on a different region of the world and asks local curators to introduce writers and poets who can tell “stories beyond the superficiality of day-to-day news.”
Read also: Belgium’s International Book Fair Invites Morocco as 2020 Guest of Honor
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