“I was born in Jerusalem and I grew up in Bethlehem. To live in Bethlehem means to live surrounded by a concrete wall which separates the city from the occupied territories. It means that to go to school, which is from the other side of the wall, it can take you anything from a few minutes up to long hours, because of the checkpoints.

So very early, I felt the need to write to escape this suffocating reality.

Poems, fairy tales, fiction: they were my way of dreaming.

Later on, when I grew up, I became aware of the power of words, mainly through media.  I didn’t like how media portray Palestine. I really pissed off when they use the word “conflict” to describe the situation between Israelis and Palestinians:  it’s not a conflict, it’s a colonisation.

 

I felt I could use my love of words and literature to show another side of Palestine. That’s why I wrote my first book, “Preliminaries for a future orchard”. I try to show the beauty and diversity of my country, which are rarely put forward.

This week, I was very happy to be here in Beirut, at the Francophone Book Fair. I’m a great admirer of the culture and diversity of Lebanon.

 

Karim Kattan, 29, is a French and Palestinian author. His book is shortlisted for the Prix Boccace de la Nouvelle 2018. It contains 3 love stories that are linked to Palestine. He writes about the past, present and imagined future of Palestine.

 

Text by Rachel Notteau