Landscapes of Future Memory

19 Mar 2024

Celebrating and marking cultures of Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia

On Wednesday 21 February, we welcomed to the University of Manchester, eminent Kurdish novelist Bachtyar Ali, renowned translator Kareem Abdulrahman and iconic harpist, Tara Jaff to mark the translation of the award-winning novel The Pomegranate Tree into English. It was a celebratory public, student and staff event attended by over 150 people which inspired many literary discussions in English and Sorani. 

Landscapes of Future Memory: Creatives, Literatures and Cultures of the Middle East and North Africa is a collaborative initiated and led by Ruth Abou Rached, Lecturer in Arabic Cultural Studies at the Department of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES). This AMES initiative works in partnership with the Russian and East European Studies (REES) project, Defiance: Artists at Risk, led by Marco Biasioli and Tom Drew. It seeks to foster connections and research on creative production of the Middle East North Africa within the university and the communities of Manchester, through events and activities that build a sense of future memory for literatures and cultures at risk of displacement or marginalisation. 

Future AMES and REES Landscapes of Future Memory events for students and the public include welcoming Palestinian poet Yousif M Al-Qasmiyeh and calligraphy workshops which connect learners from the public and the university.

This initiative has been kindly funded and supported by SALC’s Programme Enhancement and Social Responsibility Awards.