‘“I’m not coming back, I’m coming”’

A poet of international reclaim, Mahmoud Darwish has left his mark on the poetry of the twentieth century. To define the work and life of the Palestinian writer, three literary talks will be held. In the first part of this tribute, Europe will present its new issue devoted to Darwish. Founded in 1923 by the famous pacifist writer Romain Rolland, this prestigious French literary journal has published work from renowned authors such as Jules Supervielle, Max Jacob, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, Walter Benjamin and Louis Aragon. Its next issue is the most important that has been dedicated to the Palestinian poet to date.

Jean-Baptiste Para, Editor of the journal, and Kadhim Jihad Hassan, Professor at INALCO, will host an introductory session at 10.15 am. At 11 am, Farouk Mardam-Bey, Editor of the Sindbad collection at Actes Sud, will lead a first round table conference alongside reputed academic teachers and literary critics who will discuss the most salient aspects of Darwish’s work: Miguel Casado, Rima Sleiman, Evanghelia Stead and René Corona will present their literary analysis. After lunch, at 3 pm, a second round table led by Elias Sanbar, Palestinian writer and UNESCO ambassador, will include presentations by literary specialists from the Arab world: André Velter, Hassan Khader, Elias Khoury and Subhi Hadidi will take the floor.

Literary programme

9 am: Welcome

9.30 am: Opening of the event by:

-  Mr Rudy Demotte, Minister-President of the Federation Wallonia-Brussels
-  Mrs Leila Shahid, former Palestinian Ambassador and Honorary President
-  Mr Paul Dujardin, Director General of BOZAR

10.15 am – Studio
Presentation of the special issue of the literary magazine « Europe » dedicated to Mahmoud Darwish by:

- Jean-Baptiste Para (poet, literary critic and translator, Managing Editor of « Europe » magazine)
- Kadhim Jihad Hassan (poet, literary critic and translator, Professor at the Department of Arabic Studies, INALCO, Paris)

11 am – 1 pm - Studio
Mahmoud Darwish – Round table 1  
Moderator: Farouk Mardam-Bey (historian and editor, Managing Editor of the Sindbad collection at Editions Actes Sud)

- Miguel Casado (poet, literary critic and translator, lives in Toledo)
- Rima Sleiman (researcher of Arabic and comparative literature, lecturer at the Department of Arabic Studies, INALCO, Paris)
- Evanghelia Stead (Professor of general and comparative literature at the Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin, member of the Institut Universitaire de France)
- René Corona (poet, literary critic and translator, Professor of French Studies at the Université de Messine)

3 pm – 5 pm - Studio
Mahmoud Darwish – Round table 2
Moderator: Elias Sanbar, historian, essayist, translator, UNESCO ambassador

- André Velter (poet, essayist and editor, Managing Editor of the poetry collection at Gallimard)
- Hassan Khader (social sciences researcher, political and cultural affairs commentator and translator, lives in Ramallah and Berlin)
- Elias Khoury (novelist and journalist, Editor of the Arabic edition of the Journal of Palestine Studies, lives in Beirut)
- Subhi Hadidi (literary critic, political and cultural affairs commentator and translator, lives and works Paris)