About Us – Palestine Writing Workshop

A group of Friends created a workshop / WorkshopWe did not start from scratch, we started from the love and individual capabilities of each member of the team; from success and failure in our professional and personal experiences, in the cultural field and artistic work. The need for an incubator that connects our dreams of creating children’s books and working to consolidate creative artistic concepts and to deliver them to individuals wherever they are, prompted us to volunteer our time, capabilities and expertise to create a workshop that does not stop working, does not calm down, and does not rest in order to feel superiority and reach the optimum.

We were an initiative and after a while we registered an association and we could soon soar in the sky. Writing, Drawing, Design, Drama and JournalismThe text is the basis of our work, but it needs context. The text needs an artistic vision that is able to transfer it to other artistic spaces. Design combines text and drawing, drama provides sounds, and the press makes it accessible.

However, can a book remain on the shelf? Stories must be read, so we read stories to children

And stories must be thought out, so we offer exercises in creative writing, creative thinking, and more. Children, Mothers, Teachers, Fathers, Men, Institutions….We work with everyone who is interested in writing – children, teachers, parents and institutions. Although our focus in production is on children, because working with the child means working with the family, the school and the community.

For children, we provide resources and stories that encourage reading, writing, creativity and thinking without setting limits and controls, within an artistic template, which allows all this without sensitivities. We offer specialized courses and residencies in literature and the arts for interested writers in the beginning stages. In addition, we open free spaces for the experienced ones to produce their works within our artistic and administrative vision. We also provide consulting services for the production of content to the public, for institutions and those interested.Our PrinciplesWe believe that there is a book in the library for every one of us, and we have to find it. When we find it we will feel that we are not alone or perhaps lonely but more beautifully so. We believe in the importance of freedom in the production of arts, storytelling and relationships. We believe that the artist is different and has artistic visions that may not be compatible with others’ opinions and what they agreed upon.

From here comes creativity, and we believe that art is for everyone and that it cannot be monopolized by a particular group. It does not matter what your work or scientific level is. You have the right to be exposed to good art, to read books that respect your mind, and to be exposed to works of art that develop your aesthetic and cognitive taste.Who we areThe Palestine Writing Association was established in the year 2009 in the city of Ramallah, with the aim of supporting and developing writing, literary reading and arts in the community, by implementing programs aimed at developing the capabilities of both male and female writers and artists through providing free spaces for them to work directly with the community, and to encourage reading among different groups of society. Initially, the workshop was an initiative of the Palestine Festival for Literature, founded by Ms. Morgan Cooper at Birzeit University. It later turned into an independent initiative, until it was officially registered in 2016 under the name of the Palestine Writing Workshop at the Palestinian Ministry of InteriorWho we areThe workshop implements projects directed at children and adolescents in particular, and writers and stakeholders in general. The projects celebrate literature and the arts as a primary method of stimulating decent living and an understanding of reality, self-esteem and heritage, while upholding positive values far from consumerism and a narrow outlook. The workshop works with different groups, from children in remote villages, refugee camps and cities, to working with leading international writersOur VisionWe work to bring happiness into people’s lives through arts and literature.