Watermelon Seeds Festival of Literature. Internationally acclaimed and award-winning novelists, poets, playwrights, and journalists read in support of peaceful student protesters at the Palestine Solidarity Encampment in Nanaimo, British Columbia. The reading features Karim Alrawi (Book of Sands), Joy Dubé (River), Sonnet L’Abbé (Sonnet’s Shakespeare), Robert Pepper-Smith (The Orchard Keepers), Jay Ruzesky (In Antarctica), Craig Taylor (New Yorkers), and Paul Watkins (Soundin’ Canaan). Students will also read selections from works by Palestinian authors.
WHAT: Watermelon Seeds Festival of Literature
WHERE: Palestine Solidarity Encampment, Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo campus quad (in front of the Library, Building 305), 900 Fifth St, Nanaimo, BC, V9R 5S5, on the land of the Snuneymuxw First Nation
WHEN: Wednesday, 22 May 2024, at 6:00 p.m.
PRICE: Free and open to the public
NOTE: Please bring your own chair
Preview: CHLY 101.7FM’s Midcoast Morning interviews Karim Alrawi, Sonnet L’Abbé, and Paul Watkins.
On 1 May 2024, the Students for Palestine Committee at Vancouver Island University (VIU) established a peaceful encampment in the quad of the Nanaimo campus in solidarity with the Palestinian people. In a public statement, they extended “an open invitation to all students, faculty, alumni, and community members to join us in this peaceful demonstration [and] educational opportunity for the community.” Their encampment is part of an international anti-war student protest movement.
The Students for Palestine Committee have made eight demands. Among these demands, they are calling for an acknowledgement of genocide and an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Palestine. According to the most recent update (20 May 2024) from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 35,562 Palestinians have been killed, and 79,652 Palestinians have been injured. 1.7 million Palestinians (75% of Gaza) have been displaced. 1.1 million Palestinians are facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, and over 50,000 children are estimated to be acutely malnourished.
The purpose of this reading is to demonstrate support for the peaceful student protesters at the Palestine Solidarity Encampment. The authors are:
Karim Alrawi (Book of Sands, HarperCollins, 2016) was born in Alexandria, Egypt. He went to school in England and after graduation he worked as a writer at several theatres including the Royal Court Theatre and the Theatre Royal Stratford East. Returning to Egypt he taught in the theatre department of the American University in Cairo. After re-joining his family in Canada he taught at the University of Victoria and later was a resident writer at theatres in the US. He has an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and was an International Writing Fellow at the University of Iowa. Book of Sands won the inaugural HarperCollins/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction. In addition to publishing three children’s books, he has recently completed a second novel, The Burning Book, based on his experience training Iraqi journalists during the country’s occupation by western coalition forces.
Joy Dubé (River: a Metaphor, Nanaimo Fringe, 2021) is a graduate of Université Laval (French Literature) and UBC (Japanese). She was a teacher of French in the early French Immersion program of Canada. Now retired from classroom teaching, she writes poetry on the unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw peoples of Vancouver Island on the West Coast of Canada. Her play River: a Metaphor was produced at the Nanaimo Fringe Festival in 2021. Her poems have been published in The Center for Humans and Nature, Pathfinders Collective, The Ekphrastic Review, and Black Fox Literary Review.
Sonnet L’Abbé (Sonnet’s Shakespeare, McClelland & Stewart, 2019) is a Canadian poet, performer, editor, and professor. They are the author of Sonnet’s Shakespeare (2019), Anima Canadensis (2016), Killarnoe (2007), and A Strange Relief (2001), and editor of Best Canadian Poetry in English (2014). They have been honoured with several awards, including the Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award. They teach Creative Writing and English at Vancouver Island University, and serve on the editorial boards of Brick Books and The Malahat Review.
Robert Pepper-Smith (The Orchard Keepers, NeWest Press, 2017) was born in Revelstoke, BC. After teaching philosophy for many years, he is now an Honorary Research Associate at Vancouver Island University. His childhood in Revelstoke and his experience as a volunteer paramedic with the NGO Alianza in Guatemala have inspired his work in literature. He is the author of The Wheel Keeper (2002) and House of Spells (2011). The Orchard Keepers, a collection of these two books with a third, Sanctuary, which finishes the series, was released in 2017.
Jay Ruzesky (In Antarctica: An Amundsen Pilgrimage, Nightwood, 2013) is a writer and filmmaker whose fiction, poetry, and non-fiction has been published in Canada and internationally and translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian. His books include Blue Himalayan Poppies, Painting the Yellow House Blue, and Am I Glad To See You. His first novel, The Wolsenburg Clock, was shortlisted for the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize and a ReLit Award. He has served on the editorial board of The Malahat Review for over twenty years and is co-founder of Outlaw Editions. He teaches English, Film Studies, and Creative Writing at Vancouver Island University.
Craig Taylor (New Yorkers, Doubleday, 2021) is the bestselling author of Londoners, Return to Akenfield, and One Million Tiny Plays About Britain. His writing and journalism have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, Vancouver Sun, Granta, McSweeney’s, and elsewhere. His plays have been professionally performed at the Royal Festival Hall (London), Jermyn St Theatre (London), Citz Theatre (Glasgow), Eastern Angles (Ipswich), Live Theatre (Newcastle), and the Edinburgh Festival. His scripts have been reworked as librettos for operas (Liverpool Philharmonic) and performed internationally in Kathmandu and Mumbai.
Paul Watkins (Soundin’ Canaan, WLU Press, 2024) has published widely on multiculturalism, hip-hop, Canadian poetry, jazz, DJ culture, and improvisation. His first book, Soundin’ Canaan: Black Canadian Poetry, Music, and Citizenship, is forthcoming this fall. Part exploration of a key group of Black Canadian poets and part literary, cultural, and musical history, Soundin’ Canaan demonstrates how music in Black Canadian poetry is not solely aesthetic but also a form of social, ethical, and political expression. Under his DJ alias, DJ Techné, he has completed several DJ projects — including Dedications (2013), Dedications II (2019), and Portals (2020) — that explore the spaces between poetry, hip-hop, and jazz.
The authors have generously donated their time and labour to the festival. Upturn Media has generously donated audio support and equipment.
Palestine Solidarity Encampment on the land of the Snuneymuxw First Nation
For more information:
watermelon.seeds.litfest[at]protonmail.com