1st Open Mic for Gaza 08-03-24

Solidarity with the Children of Palestine

The inspiring special guest readers for the fundraiser on International Women’s Day included:

Shahd Mahnavi, Nattassa Latcham, Amy Abdullah Barry, Mary O'Donnell, Swerve Journal’s Mich Maroney, and Kinda Al Fityani.

They were joined by a quality range of open mic readers including a narrated art exhibition. Thanks to special guest Mary O’Donnell who captured the event in her Instagram post, screenshot below. Mary quoted the Polish writer, Olga Tokarczuk, a message on tenderness from Olga’s Nobel Laureate acceptance speech. Read the speech, in The Marginalian, thanks to Maria Popova. You can see one screen of the participants in the screenshot, and over 50 people zoomed in at different points throughout the event.

This was an open mic solidarity with the children of Palestine and ALL donations pledged here will all go to the Ghassan Abut Sittah Children’s Fund. Open Mic for Gaza was dedicated to the young journalist Lama Jamous and the children of Palestine.

Lama sent us a video message which can be played via her Instagram post.

Read on for the list of special guests and open mic readers, and the art exhibition, plus a bonus dish at the end :)

Shahd Mahnavi is a Palestinian poet and entrepreneur from Jerusalem. She discovered her passion for writing and art at a young age in a creative household. Moving to the UK at 18, she successfully established businesses and was recognised for her contributions as a "High Street Hero" in 2023. Through her poetry, Shahd actively advocates against oppression and participates in fundraising events for Gaza, contributing to raising over half a million pounds. She is preparing to release an EP and has received recognition as a writer-in-residence with Swerve Magazine. Stay tuned for her appearance in the upcoming documentary "Palestinians in London." 

Aileen Malone, a Northside Dubliner, began writing essays and autofiction after her daughter’s death, when painting failed to describe the complexities of her life. A recipient of the Arts Council Agility Award 2022 and Irish Writers Centre Mentor/Member Duo programme in 2022. Aileen juggles writing with life drawing, painting and earning a crust.

Teri Donaghy hails originally from Northern Ireland and currently lives in north county Dublin. Teri has participated in creative writing classes, workshops, and courses since 2011. She is an associate member of the Irish Writers Centre and is a recent awardee of the Northern Soul Roadshow 2024 run by the IWC. Teri is currently focussing on her first novel.

Nattassa Latcham originally from St. John’s, Antigua in the Caribbean. Nattassa Blakeney Latcham is a Media & Communications Consultant with a Degree in Journalism and a minor in Political Science from the University of the West Indies (Mona). She is a passionate DEI specialist and founding member of UK Pivot Ltd whose flagship project is a community-focused podcast called UnMute Now. A podcast that seeks to amplify the voices of women and ethnic minority communities in Northern Ireland and the wider UK on a range of issues of importance. A poet, writer, blogger, and aspiring author Nattassa has recently completed a children’s book and is awaiting publication with other writing projects also in the pipeline.

Pallavi Padma-Uday is a writer, journalist, and business historian based in Belfast. Her debut collection of poetry, Orisons in the Dark, was published by India's eminent publisher of poetry, Writers Workshop in April 2023. Recipient of various bursaries and awards from the Irish Writers Centre and the Arts Council of Ireland, Padma-Uday is currently working on a memoir. Her second poetry collection - 'Lola in Belfast' - is forthcoming in March 2024. She studied Economics History at the London School of Economics and writes on political economy, business, and culture in South Asia.

Elaine Gormley is a new writer from Belfast. Having received a BA in Drama and Film Studies at Queen’s University, she went on to study for a degree in Counselling at the University of Ulster. Most recently she has had a short story published by Field Press. Elaine can be found on Instagram @elainegormleywriter

Mary O’Donnell’s work includes poetry, four novels, three short story collections, essays, and journalism. Her 2020 collection Massacre of the Birds (Salmon) is translated and published in Brazilian Portuguese with Arte y Lettras, and her latest publication is a Southword Editions chapbook, Outsiders, Always. Other work is available in Hungarian and in Spanish. She is a member of Ireland’s affiliation of artists, Aosdána. www.maryodonnell.com

Lauren MacKenzie is from Dublin via Sydney, recovering screenwriter, lapsed poet, currently novelist, All Ireland Ladies Pool Champion

Marlene May is an Irish writer, living in New Jersey.  Her work has been published on www.irishcentral.com, the Connaught Tribune, and the Inquisitive Eater. She is currently in an MFA program, working on her debut novel.

Amy Abdullah Barry is a short story writer, poet, facilitator, and event coordinator. She is published widely including Cyphers, Southword, London Tribune, Paris Lit Up, The Galway Review, RTE, and elsewhere. Featured in Breaking Ground Ireland. Her poems have been translated into many languages including Irish, Malay, Arabic, Italian, Persian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, and Spanish. Chosen for the Poetry Ireland Introduction Series 2022. A travel lover, she previously worked in the media, hotel, and energy industry. Amy has been awarded literature bursaries from the Arts Council and Words Ireland. She is an Honorary member of the Pablo Neruda Association in Italy. Amy is the founder of Global Writers. She regularly organises poetry & music events in her hometown; Athlone. She has performed her work in Ireland and internationally. ‘Flirting with Tigers’ is her debut collection of poems published by Dedalus Press. The review in Irish Times praised it as being driven by narrative juxtapositions: stories of home and abroad, Malaysia’s Penang and Roscommon.

Anita Gracey is published in Poetry Ireland Review, Washing Windows – Irish Women Write. Poetry (1, 2, and 3), Abridged, The Honest Ulsterman, Poetry NI, The Poets’ Republic. Fly on the Wall, Blue Nib, Culture, and The Poetry Jukebox. Anita is the recipient of 2023 Community Arts Partnership Good Relations Award.

ART EXHIBITION

Shireen Ikramullah Khan is a Pakistani artist, art critic, educator, and museologist with a background in painting and printmaking. She completed her undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan in 2006. In 2009, she completed her Masters in Art Gallery and Museum Studies from The University of Manchester, which included an internship at the Manchester Museum to profile gallery visitors and assess improvements. She is an active member of AICA (International Association of Art Critics), and a writer for several art publications worldwide. Based in Europe since 2017, Shireen continues to maintain her own visual art practice, participating in several exhibitions across Pakistan and other countries. She is, in parallel, working with international artists to curate shows in Pakistan as a means of building stronger bridges for sharing of culture and knowledge.

Art exhibition kindly shared by Shireen Ikramullah Khan from her residency at Tyrone Guthrie Centre. 1-Hollow House 2-Listen to my Voice 3-Borders II- mixed media on fabric 4-Borders II- mixed media on paper

Melanie Veenstra spent part of her youth in N. Ireland, where her love for writing in English began. Next to her business in commercial writing, Melanie writes flash fiction and poetry and is getting better at not having someone die in every single piece. She shares her time between Connemara and Amsterdam.

Carmel McKeown from Skerries, Co Dublin, writes short stories & poetry. Loves her two crazy Portuguese Water Dogs.

Mich Maroney is a visual artist and writer. She was born in Hong Kong and is Eurasian. She is the designer and editor of SWERVE Magazine, an annual journal based in West Cork, Ireland. SWERVE focuses on new and emerging writers and artists from Ireland and internationally. SWERVE publishes poetry and prose as well as visual art in a variety of media. The SWERVE team is currently working on SWERVE 3. SWERVE 2 launched at the Skibbereen Arts Festival in 2023 with a reading event and visual art exhibition. SWERVE 1 launched at the West Cork Literary Festival in 2022. In addition to the print and online magazine, SWERVE creates collaborative projects between writers and artists, shows visual art at SWERVE: Gallery and Project Space, and hosts writers and artists-in-residence at their Skibbereen HQ in Cork Road. In 2023 SWERVE held the first SWERVE: Lit Lounge at Cork Road, an intimate space where writers share new work to a supportive and non-judgmental audience. 

Kate Kavanagh is a poet-artist working mainly in REPORTAGE art, live sketching of people and events in the context of what is going on. She previously worked as a journalist with RTE and several print media. Her art reflects the curiosity, observation, and the urge to bear witness to and record events.  Kate works mainly in watercolour, pen, and ink for fluidity and light, and vibrancy.

They who would destroy — employ the sword. I choose the pen — to catch and record. 

Moze Jacobs is a writer/(sound) poet/journalist and co-organises DeBarra's Spoken Word. Involved in Peace for Palestine (Skibbereen).

Róisín Ní Neachtain is an artist and writer living in County Kildare. She has been published with Abridged, Firmament (Sublunary Editions), Broken Sleep Books, and Poetry Jukebox. Her work was awarded the Dennis O’Driscoll Literary Bursary Award, second place at the Red Line, and has been shortlisted in a number of competitions.

Cathy Power was born and bred in Dublin but thinks she's from Kilkenny and is hoping Liam McCarthy returns there again soon.

Glenda Cimino was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and studied and lived in Florida, South America, and New York City before moving to Ireland in 1972. She currently lives in Dublin. Longtime antiwar activist, she has also been a sociologist, a teacher, a publisher, a poet, a social historian, an actor, a comedian, a journalist, a lecturer, an editor, a filmmaker, a tarot reader, and a home carer. She is now a freelance writer and artivist.

Fiona O’Rourke is a writer of fiction, autofiction, and accidental poetry. Zooming from Larne in the North of Ireland, living in Dublin, heart in Wexford. In childhood she believed the draught under the door was the giraffe under the door.  Reading from Reliable Family Saloon a story from Take Me to Palestine Street.

Kinda Al Fityani read a new story, Msakhan, and shared a photo of the subject matter. Born and raised in Kuwait to Palestinian parents, Kinda Al Fityani is a citizen of Ireland, Jordan, and the USA. She is hard of hearing from infancy and fluent in American Sign Language, Arabic, and English. She holds a doctorate degree in Communication from the University of California — San Diego. Kinda currently resides in Dublin with her husband. They both hope to one day visit her parents’ birthplaces of Jaffa and Jerusalem in a free Palestine.

Msakhan the dish, and the title of the story that Kinda wrote for Open Mic for Gaza, International Women’s Day 2024

Solidarity with the children of Palestine for International Women’s Day and Every Day ❤️🖤🤍💚