WWB just announced a new blog series, hosted by MFA Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi and PhD in Comp Lit Chana M., that promises to explore literature and cross-cultural dialogues “in the Middle East” (although this, perhaps, is an editor’s headline; the authors only talk about Palestine and Israel).
Generally I blanch a bit at cross-cultural stories from Palestine/Israel, as they are usually fairly treacly and facile. But this could definitely get interesting.
The co-authors write:
We are hoping to gain a broader perspective of the various ways in which contemporary Israeli and Palestinian cultures negotiate the region’s complex and hybrid social landscape. We are also interested in looking at the connections between political activism and literature and the potential democratization of the social sphere through the arts. We are looking forward to traveling back and forth between Israel and the Palestinian Territories—from Jerusalem to Ramallah, Jenin to Hebron, Bethlehem to Tel Aviv and back, and to posting about our experiences and impressions over here.
Watch the Dispatches page at WWB for updates. For myself, I’m interested in news from the Palestinian literary scene.
