Bantry / Sunday 7 – Saturday 13 July - West Cork Music

Sunday 7 July20.30 / Maritime Hotel / €15AHDAF SOUEIF in conversation with Denyse WoodsAhdaf Soueif is the author of the bestselling The Map of Love, short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1999, Inthe Eye of the Sun and the collection of short stories, I Think of You. Ms Soueif is also a political and culturalcommentator. A collection of her essays, Mezzaterra: Fragments from the Common Ground, was published in2004, as was her translation of Mourid Barghouti’s I Saw Ramallah. She writes regularly for the Guardian andal-Shorouk in Egypt. In 2007, Ms Soueif founded Engaged Events, a UK-based charity. Its first project was thePalestine Festival of Literature which takes place in the occupied cities of Palestine and in Gaza. Her accountof Egyptian events, Cairo: my City, our Revolution, was published by Bloomsbury in 2012.Ahdaf Soueif was recently named by the Guardian as ‘one of the 100 people with most influence on the Englishreading public’, and by Arabian Business as ‘one of the 100 most powerful women in the Arab world today.’ Sheis a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in the UK and the Lannan Foundation for Cultural Freedom inthe US, a Patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Caine Prize for African Literature and a Trusteeof the British Museum and the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. In 2010 she became the first recipientof the Mahmoud Darwich Award (Ramallah) and in 2012 was awarded the Constantin Cavafis Prize (Cairo/Athens) and the Metropolis Bleu Award (Montreal).22.30 / Ma Murphy’s Pub / FREE / Droppin the Act presentThe Freedom Poetry ShowDroppin the Act are a high-energy performance poetry duo made up of Dave Lordan and Karl Parkinson,two of Ireland’s most original and outstanding performance poets. Their Freedom Poetry Show is a celebrationof being free despite obstacles – a show guaranteed to engage and entertain.‘provocative and ingenious contemporary poetry’ Poetry Ireland23.15 / Maritime Hotel / FREE / Open Mike with Paul O’DonoghueThis is an opportunity for you to perform your work. Sign up for your slot beforehand with the master ofceremonies Paul O’Donoghue, and take part in this entertaining and sociable event.Ahdaf Soueif (photo: McCabe)3