Kalimafiesta: Arabic pop-up poetry festival
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What better way to say goodbye than by throwing a party?! As befitting a National Poet, that party will be a festival of the word. ‘Word’ in Arabic is ‘kalima’, so there you have it, the Kalimafiesta was born: an Arabic poetry festival during which four pairs of poets bring poetry to special places in Brussels.
‘Social distancing’ is what Corona experts advise, ‘social nearness’ is what we aim for with our literary events. Because we are unable to provide that now, but even more so because we don’t want to put others at risk, we are cancelling our activities until the end of March. For each of these activities we will try to organise them at a later date.
If you are a ticket holder you will be contacted and reimbursed. We will also give you priority to reserve tickets when we have fixed a later date.
For conversations with writers, new ideas and stories, you are welcome to visit our online magazine.
Arabic as a language of poetry
‘The goal of the National Poet is to seek connection’, says Els Moors. Since Arabic is the third most spoken language in Brussels, she set up the Kalimafiesta, a titillating poetry festival that brings the Flemish, Walloon and Arabic communities in Belgium closer to each other. The National Poet’s final act.
Where’s the party at?
Perhaps not where you expect it. The poets will make their way to you. A dash of poetry at school, in a tea house or at the hairdresser’s? These are all possibilities. Where Arabic is normally a practical spoken language, the poets will lend lustre to it as a language of culture. The strange-sounding Arabic you hear is in fact Arabic poetry.
Pairs of poets
Four pairs of poets, each consisting of an Arabic and a Dutch- or French-speaking poet, form the core of the Kalimafiesta. Passa Porta has adopted one of the pairs, the Kuwaiti Mona Kareem and the Belgian Peter Verhelst, and will set off with them through the streets of Brussels. The two poets will beforehand digitally and will translate each other’s work. They will present that work during the Kalimafiesta. Head to Recyclart for the closing evening with the four pairs of poets.
Peter Verhelst (b. 1962) is a poet, novelist and theatremaker. He debuted in 1987 with the poetry collection Obsidiaan. His first novel, Vloeibaar harnas, followed in 1993. His breakthrough came in 2000 when his novel Tongkat won the Gouden Uil and the Jonge Gouden Uil. Verhelst was Ghent city poet from 2009 to 2011.
Mona Kareem (b. 1987) is a poet, translator and journalist. Some of her poetry collections have been translated into Dutch, French, English, Spanish, Persian, German, Kurdish and Italian. Mona is pursuing a PhD in comparative literature from Binghamton University in New York. Her thesis explores the subordinate status of the Arabic feminist novel.
Org.: Passa Porta, Poëziecentrum (Ghent), La Maison de la Poésie et de la Langue française (Namur), VONK & Zonen (Antwerp), Maison de la Poésie (Amay), fiEstival maelstrÖm (Brussels), Poème 2 (Brussels), Midis de la Poésie (Brussels) and Jeugd en Poëzie (Antwerp), Recyclart.
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