Tolstoy and Shakespeare Are Palestinians

I’m a bit late in finding it, but Claire Falcon on FREE THE BLOG apparently wrote about Adania Shibli and Ala Hlehel’s Beirut39 reading in London last month.

There were the sorts of questions and answers to be expected (Don’t you want dialogue with Israeli authors? When they recognize my rights), and then a question to Shibli about what Arabic literature has influenced her. Said Shibli:

To me, all literature is Arabic literature, because I read it in Arabic and therefore I feel it is Arabic. Tolstoy and Shakespeare – they are Palestinians!

Shibli’s beautiful novella, Touch, was recently released in English. I’m not supposed to say much more, since I have a review forthcoming in Rain Taxi, but you don’t need the review. Just go buy it.