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5th July 2009

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Literary festival in Palestine

06.05.08

Roddy Doyle, Esther Freud, David Hare and Ahdaf Soueif will this week launch the first international literary festival in the occupied Palestinian territories, reports the Guardian. Seventeen British, American, Indian and Arab authors will visit four West Bank cities for the inaugural Palestinian Festival of Literature, subtitled: "The power of culture and the culture of power."

Soueif, one of the festival's organisers, said they had invited "authors who we really liked, and who showed a concern for the world in general".

The festival, which is supported by the British Council and Unesco as well as a number of charitable foundations, may become an annual event, Soueif said, adding that she hoped the project would encourage publishers to translate the authors' works into Arabic and English.

Guardian

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