A Collision with Truth – Palestinian British Voices Panel

EUTERPE Spring School Lecture Series

Date and Time: Wednesday 21 May 2025, 5pm–7pm

Location: BS/005, Bowland Auditorium, Berrick Saul Building, Campus West, University of York (In-person and online)

Admission: Free, booking required → Book tickets

Photo credit: Efe Ersoy

“Gaza does not propel people to cool contemplation; rather, she propels them to erupt and collide with the truth.”– Mahmoud Darwish, Silence for Gaza (1973)

In collaboration with Comma Press, the EUTERPE project is proud to present A Collision with Truth, a powerful panel event amplifying Palestinian British voices in literature and lived experience.

This timely and urgent discussion will feature writers and performers Nada Shawa, Mohammed Ghalayini, and Azhar Herez, in conversation with moderator and EUTERPE doctoral researcher Ninutsa Nadirashvili. Together, they will explore the role of writing, storytelling, and transnational authorship amidst the trauma and injustice of ongoing violence in Gaza.

Through a blend of testimony, creative reflection, and critical insight, the panel will ask: What does it mean to write under siege? To speak for and within a community facing genocide? How do we bear witness on the page and in public?

A Q&A will follow the panel, offering audience members the chance to engage directly with the speakers.

About the Speakers

Nada Shawa is a Palestinian writer and dancer who moved from Gaza to Scotland as a child. Her work fuses personal experience, disability activism, and solidarity with Palestinian resistance. Her latest publication, Indigenous Soul: Gaza and Me, supports the Gaza Culture and Development Group.

Mohammed Ghalayini is a writer, translator, and co-author of the play Light in Me Don’t Die, which brings to life the words of Palestinian survivors and martyrs. His work bridges journalism, science, and literature, with extensive reporting from Gaza and translations published widely by Comma Press.

Azhar Herez is a poet of mixed Palestinian and English heritage whose father’s family is from Gaza. She began publicly performing her work in response to the ongoing violence, offering her voice as both protest and solidarity.

Ra Page is the founder and CEO of Comma Press, an award-winning publisher committed to global, political, and socially conscious fiction. He has edited over 30 anthologies and is a leading figure in the UK publishing scene.

Venue Map: View map

Enquiries: Contact us

This event is part of the EUTERPE Spring School Lectures — a space for critical engagement, creative resistance, and transnational literary dialogue. Join us in person or online for this vital conversation.