Three Libyan authors read from their works and discuss life for writers under Gaddafi and how the future in the new Libya is shaping up.
Ghazi Gheblawi is a well-known author, blogger, journalist and surgeon. He co-founded the online newspaper Libya Alyoum (Libya Today) and in 2005 founded his award-winning Imtidad blog, and produces, with Mohamed Mesratie, the Imtidad Cultural Podcast, focusing on cultural, literary and social issues in Libya and the Arab world, working for “a better future for Libya that is free, democratic, and just”. He has two collections of short stories and poems.
Giuma Bukleb published his short stories in Libyan literary magazines but stopped writing for many years after being imprisoned by the Gaddafi regime for 10 years in the late 1970s. He has lived in the UK since 1988, and has published works in Arab newspapers and in one collection, and in English translation in Banipal 40 – Libyan Fiction. Some of his poems are published online.
Mohamed Mesratie was born in 1990 in Tripoli and came here with his family in 2005. He started writing and publishing short stories when he was just 16. His novel-in-progress Mama Pizza was excerpted in Banipal 40. He recently said: “As a writer or as an activist or as a blogger, my goal, my dream is to write to celebrate freedom, also liberation. That’s what we get from writing, that’s what makes us satisfied.” When he is not blogging, writing or working in a book shop, Mohamed studies English Literature and Creative Writing at London University.
Banipal’s publisher Margaret Obank, who this year attended the new Libya’s first International Tripoli Poetry Festival, will moderate the evening.
Venue: Bay Leaf Restaurant, Unit 16/17, The Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B9 4AA
Tickets: £8 / £5
To book please call the BOX on 0121 245 4455 or click here.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Website: http://www.birminghambookfestival.org
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