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• “Revolutions threaten poetry with loss of the intimate and the aesthetic. Safaa delves into this threat head-on in order to produce a book that is both beautiful and intimate, where the revolution becomes the daily gesture: “when the tear gas entered my lungs, I decided to start smoking again.”… When the world gave up on the notion of revolution, the Tunisians and Egyptians filled the streets to revive it. Revolution goes through walls is political poetry at its best, intimate telling. Where a poet doesn’t scream her revolt, she murmurs it.” —Maged Zaher

Safaa Fathy was born in Egypt, and is a poet, essay writer, and filmmaker. She is the author of Al Haschische (Pamenar Press, 2023, translated by Patrick Love, with the author), an experimental book of poetry existing in relation to her 2007 film Hidden Valley. Where Not to Be Born (Litmus Press, 2024, translated by Rawd Wehbe) brings together poems from four original Arabic-language books published between 1989 and 2010, encompassing a selection of works representing Fathy’s wide-ranging, richly allusive, and cinematically-inflected poetic practice. An earlier book of poetry, Revolution Goes Through Walls (SplitLevel Texts, 2018, translation by Pierre Joris), was first published in Egypt, then in France, Brazil, and the US. Her plays Terror and Ordeal were prefaced by Jacques Derrida, with whom she co-wrote Tourner les mots. She also experiments with the visual texture of poems in filmic forms. Name to the Sea, a film-poem structured within a still frame, is being published along with the text in seven languages (Vanilla planifolia, Mexico City). She has been writing a novel in English for the past five years.

Safaa Fathy participated in the 47th Annual Poetry Project Marathon with a short piece entitled “I Would Like to Say,” and in the recent 24-hour International Reading for Freedom of Expression & Solidarity with Palestine, by way of an introduction to and screening of her outstanding 1996 film portrait of French-Jewish historian of Islam and Arabic peoples, Maxime Rodinson Atheist of the Gods. Fathy’s films are made available by Tamaas.org.

The Poetry Center presents Mazza Writer in Residence Priscilla Wathington, reading her poetry that draws from her experiences as a Palestinian American and her past human rights advocacy work with local Palestinian organizations, and joining in conversation with filmmakers Colette Ghunim and Sara Maamouri. Their work-in-progress film Traces of Home (2024), explores the impact of having to leave one’s homeplace (Palestine and Mexico), through the lives of Ghunim’s parents. The three artists will take up questions of documentation and storytelling in the representation of trauma, collaboration and working with the archive, and possibilities of collective healing.

Please join us for this second public event in Wathington’s Mazza Residency (she reads with Sam Sax, Thursday April 11) — and the first of two April events with The Poetry Center at Artists’ Television Access for programs featuring Arab women poets and filmmakers (Egyptian-born Safaa Fathy appears at ATA Friday April 19).

The Mazza Writer in Residence program is supported by the Sam Mazza Foundation.

VIDEO for this program will be posted after editing at Poetry Center Digital Archive.

Priscilla Wathington is a Palestinian American poet and editor who lives in the Bay Area. She is the author of the chapbook, Paper and Stick (Tram Editions), which draws from her past human rights and humanitarian work with NGOs such as Defense for Children International – Palestine, Norwegian Refugee Council, and the Arab American Action Network. Her poems have appeared in Adi Magazine, Gulf Coast, Michigan Quarterly Review, Salamander, and elsewhere. She sits on the board of the Radius of Arab American Writers (RAWI) and is an MFA candidate at Warren Wilson College.

Filmed over six years, Traces of Home is a personal documentary in progress exploring filmmaker Colette Ghunim’s disconnected relationship with her family through the lens of intergenerational trauma. Interweaving two international trips to find her parents’ ancestral homes in Mexico and Palestine, extensive family video archives, and intimate conversations with Colette’s family, what begins as a desire to connect to her cultural origins turns into an internal quest to heal herself and her family. Video still (detail, above) from Traces of Home.

Colette Ghunim | Director
As a documentary filmmaker and nonprofit co-founder, Colette Ghunim’s soul purpose is to use the power of film and storytelling for those oppressed around the world to be seen, to be heard, and to heal. Her first documentary, The People’s Girls (2016), received over 2 million views and won Best Short Documentary at the Arab Film Festival for its bold spotlight on street harassment in Egypt. In co-production with Kartemquin Films and funded by Latino Public Broadcasting, she is directing Traces of Home, her first feature-length film, documenting her inner quest to find home through unearthing her parent’s forced migrations from Mexico and Palestine. Colette is also the co-founder of Mezcla Media Collective, a nonprofit organization aimed to cultivate a thriving landscape for over 700 women and non-binary filmmakers of color in Chicago. Her work has been highlighted on international outlets such as Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, Univision, and TEDx. Colette was selected as a 2023 Obama Foundation USA Leader, 2024 Sundance Institute x ISF Fellow, and was featured on Arab America’s “30 Under 30” list. coletteghunim.com

Sara Maamouri | Editor/Producer
Sara Maamouri is an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker and editor who has explored a diverse range of topics for over 20 years. Her work touches on social, educational, and political issues, from We Are Not Princesses (2018), which follows Syrian refugees connecting with ancient truths through Sophocles’ Antigone, to the Peabody Award-winning film The Judge (2017), the groundbreaking story of the first woman appointed to the Sharia courts in the Middle East. A multilingual Tunisian-American, Sara brings cultural sensitivity to her editing, production, and story development, with an emphasis on social justice and impact driven filmmaking. Her most recent films include Black Mothers Love & Resist (SF International Film Festival 2022), and Clarissa’s Battle (Human Rights Watch Film Festival, NYC 2022). saramaamouri.com

Related events

Mazza Writer in Residence Priscilla Wathington and Sam Sax, reading and in conversation

Tripwire Series: Safaa Fathy, poet and filmmaker in person

Video

Mazza Writers in Residence 2017–2023 on video