LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Loss of home. Involuntary displacement. Returning to places of belonging. Those themes will be dramatized and then followed by public conversations in February and March in several Louisville venues through the University of Louisville project “Reading Kanafani in Kentucky.”
The free, public readings by actors will be a stage adaptation of Palestinian writer and activist Ghassan Kanafani’s novella “Returning to Haifa.” The script by Louisville native Naomi Wallace and Ismail Khalidi examines a Palestinian family and an Israeli one struggling with issues of home in the aftermath of war.
After each reading, UofL professors and invited experts will facilitate audience discussions about personal experiences of displacement and home brought up in the Kanafani work and the play.
Here’s the schedule at Louisville Free Public Library branches, UofL Libraries and other locations:
Feb. 27, 5:30 p.m., LFPL Western Library, 604 S. 10th St.
Feb. 28, 6:30 p.m., LFPL Iroquois Library, 601 W. Woodlawn Ave.
March 1, 7:30 p.m., Ramsi’s Cafe on the World, 1293 Bardstown Road
March 6, 6:30 p.m., LFPL South Central Regional Library, 7300 Jefferson Blvd.
March 20, noon, UofL Kornhauser Library, Preston Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard
March 21 and 22, 7:30 p.m., UofL Thrust Theatre, Floyd Street and University Boulevard
UofL’s Cooperative Consortium for Transdisciplinary Social Justice Research supported the project in partnership with Louisville Free Public Library, the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Kentucky Refugee Ministries. Other UofL participants are the philosophy, theatre arts and urban and public affairs departments and the peace, justice and conflict transformation program.
For more information, contact Russell Vandenbroucke at 502-852-8448 or r.vandenbroucke@louisville.edu.
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