Renowned Palestinian author discussing new book at Lancaster Arts and Litfest event

In 2008, Raja Shehadeh won the Orwell Prize, a British award for political writing, for his book Palestinian Walks, Notes on a Vanishing Landscape.

He is co-founder of the human rights organisation, Al-Haq.

Shehadeh will be joined by his co-author Penny Johnson to discuss their new book Forgotten: Searching for Palestine’s Hidden Places and Lost Memorials: a profound

meditation on memory and what we choose to memorialise.

When Shehadeh first started hill walking in Palestine, in the late 1970s, he was not aware that he was travelling through a vanishing landscape.

During the evening, he will talk about his life, his love of walking, his work as a human rights lawyer, and his many acclaimed books.

London Review of Books editor Adam Shatz cited Shehadeh as one of two people who have provided a formative influence of his understanding of the Middle East conflict, writing that

‘he is a man who, in spite of his understandable bitterness, has continued to dream of a future beyond the occupation[...]where Arabs and Jews would live as equals.’”

The evening will be moderated by Madeline-Sophie Abbas, Senior Lecturer in Sociology (Race and Anti-Racism) at Lancaster University.

Abbas will bring up some of the core themes within this body of work, such as walking and writing as a means of documenting changes to accessing and enjoying the (disappearing)

beauty of the Palestinian landscape and rediscovering a hidden history of what remains.

The evening will be a celebration of Shehadeh’s life’s work and will include images and film footage of the Palestinian landscape through which he has walked all his life.

It is particularly pertinent to Lancaster Arts’ annual theme of Land and will include discussions with the audience on the questions and topics that arise from this theme.

Speaking ahead of the event, Lancaster Arts director, Jocelyn Cunningham said: “We are honoured to be able to welcome Raja Shehadeh to the Nuffield Theatre and delighted to once

again, be working in partnership with Lancaster Litfest.

"The themes of this evening could not be more relevant to our focus on Land this year and there is arguably no more relevant country to be talking about geographical landscapes,

borders and boundaries, a sense of belonging and cultural identities and what is being lost.

"This is set to be a special evening and we look forward to welcoming you to explore these themes with us.”

Raja Shehadeh: Walking Palestine will begin at 7pm on Wednesday April 2 in the Nuffield Theatre at Lancaster University.

To find out more and book tickets please visit https://www.lancasterarts.org/ call the box office on 01524 594151 or email [email protected].