Bayou and Laila
(Libya)
Writing Revolution
From Cairo to Damascus and from Tunisia to Bahrain,Writing Revolution (out May 2013 and winner of the English PEN Translation Award for 2013) brings together some of the most exciting new writing born out of revolution in the Arab world.
Here, recorded on July 19th at the Gate Theatre (Notting Hill) after a performance of The Prophet,
Karim Scott reads 'Bayou and Laila', Mohamed Mesrati’s account of the Libyan uprisings in 2011.
Writing from exile in the UK, Mohamed Mesrati juxtaposes the mundane oppression of growing up under dictatorship with the brutality of the Gaddhafi regime, and the fear and thrill of rising against this system last year.
About Writing Revolution:
Assembled by Layla Al-Zubaidi and Mathew Cassel, Writing Revolution is a remarkable collection of testimony, entirely composed by participants in, and witnesses to, the profound changes shaking their region.
Situated between past, present and future – in a space where the personal and the political collide – these voices are part of an ongoing process, one that is at once hopeful and heartbreaking.
Unique amongst material emanating from and about the convulsions in the Arab Middle East, these creative and original writers speak of history, determination and struggle, as well as of political and poetic engagement with questions of identity and activism.
More information about the Writing Revolution project can be found at: ibtauris.com/writingrevolution
Also,
big thank you to Nye Williams for recording this for us.
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