About

The Sixth International Jerusalem Writers’ Festival is a key event in the literary world in Israel. The festival will host authors with unique voices, many of whom will be visiting Israel for the first time. This year, the festival will focus on literary protests and their impact, and will feature young, fresh voices that carry with them the spirit of independent thinking and the freedom to dream and imagine in the name of a thirst for culture and liberty of thought. During the four days of events, there will be original projects created especially for the festival, dozens of literary meetings, workshops, tours, films, and performances.

Special thanks for supporting the festival:

The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation

The Sir Naim Dangoor Centre for UK-Israel Relations, Mishkenot Sha’ananim

The Jerusalem Foundation

The Marie Residency Program

The Marie Residency Program is a tribute to the life of Marie Brandolini (7.4.1963–30.5.2013), daughter of Béatrice Rosenberg de Rothschild. Marie was an accomplished artist who worked as a glass designer in Murano, Italy. Her love of literature crossed genres and cultures. Marie made her home in the city of Venice, but visited Jerusalem more than once and recognized the importance of the city to her family. The Marie Residency Program brings writers to Jerusalem and Venice for extended stays with the aim of giving them time to write, present lectures to the public, and experience each of the cities.

Since the beginning of the program, Marie Residency participants have included authors Anita and Kiran Desai (India) in 2016 and artist Maira Kalman (USA) and author Etgar Keret (Israel) in 2017.

We are delighted to announce that award-winning author and journalist Francesca Segal (UK) is the 2018 Marie Residency writer and  and will feature in the  International Writers Festival. Segal’s first book, The Innocents, received the Costa First Novel Award, the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction, the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, and the Betty Trask Award. Her new book, The Awkward Age, has garnered much praise and is currently being adapted for a BBC television series

Acknowledgements:

The Ministry of Culture and Sport: MK Miri Regev, Minister of Culture and Sport; Yossi Sharabi, CEO; Yigal Amadi, Chairman of the Cultural Council, Galit Wahba-Shasho, Director of the Culture Administration, Uri Ellis, Director of the Literature Department

The Jerusalem Foundation: Johanna Arbib-Perugia, President; Anat Tzur, General Director, Ruth Diskin, Director of Projects and Culture, Liat Rosner, Spokesperson

The Dangoor Education Foundation, the Sir Naim Dangoor Centre for UK-Israel Relations at Mishkenot Sha’ananim: David Dangoor

Jerusalem Municipality: Ariela Rejwan, Head of Culture, Society and Sports Administration; Yoram Braverman, Director of the Department of Culture; Eyal Ezri, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Head of Cultural Institutions; Milka Burnstein, Deputy Director of Cultural Institutions; Eli Cohen, Director of the Department for the Promotion of Culture and Art Projects; Mali Feder, Director of Department Cultural Projects and the Promotion of Cultural Institutions; Anat Raveh, Coordinator

ZAZ10TS and The Leon Charney Resolution Center: Tzili Charney, Founder

Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Ziv Nevo Kulman, Head of the Cultural Diplomacy Division; Anat Gilead, Head of Planning & Development, Division of Cultural Diplomacy; Ofra Ben-Yaacov, Director of the Arts Department, Division of Cultural Affairs

Embassy of Ireland in Israel: Alison Kelly, Ambassador; Tim Reilly, Cultural Attaché; Alyssa Ivankov

Deborah Harris, The Deborah Harris Agency

Prof. Evan Fallenberg