The Mosaic Rooms Names New Writer-in-residence: Gazan Author Nayrouz Qarmout

The Mosaic Rooms has announced their autumn writer-in-residence, in a program supported by English PEN and the British Council:

Gazan short-story writer and journalist Nayrouz Qarmout this autumn of 2021.

Qarmout, who is author of the short-story collection The Sea Cloak, translated by Perween Richards, as well as several screenplays, will be in residence at the gallery during their Stateless Heritage exhibition. This exhibition by artist-architecture collective DAAR (Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti) “challenges mainstream narratives of refugees, victimhood and suffering. The exhibition proposes exile as a radical perspective beyond the nation state, and refuses Western definitions of heritage, centering on Dheisheh refugee camp in Palestine.”

Mosaic Rooms adds:

As a writer who is active in the struggle of women’s rights and as a Palestinian refugee who writes about life in her own home city of Gaza, Qarmout will explore some of these themes during her residency. She will participate in events in the exhibition’s ‘living room’ space which aims to reflect refugee camp culture, and be a place for solidarities and social connection.

The 14 stories in The Sea Cloak — one of which also appeared in The Book of Gaza, ed. Atef Abu Saif — are set around life in a Syrian refugee camp and in Gaza. 

Also read:

Nayrouz Qarmout on Writing, Pessimism, and How ‘Fear Kills Women’

Also listen:

 “The Sea Cloak,” by Nayrouz Qarmout, translated by Charis Bredon and performed by performed by Grazyna Monvid.