The Distant Here – Shubbak - London festival of contemporary Arab culture

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The Distant Here is a three-week walking exhibition which takes the writing of two Palestinian authors, Heba Hayek and Yara Hawari, into the public realm.

Download the PDF guide to find the typographical quotes in Arabic and English designed by Farah Fayyad in Shepherds Bush, Ladbroke Grove, Chelsea and Park Royal.

Each beautifully designed excerpt will be from Heba Hayek and Yara Hawari’s new novels (Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies and The Stone House) published by Hajar Press.

Each quote will occupy a culturally significant location for the Arab diaspora in West London. In cafés, cultural spaces and bookshops, visitors and passersby will be able to find the quotes on billboards, posters and even postcards in shops.

معرض "البعيد هنا" هو معرض تجوّل مدته ثلاثة أيام ينقل كتابات الكاتبتين الفلسطينيتين هبة حايك ويارا هواري إلى المجال العام.

سيتمكن الجمهور من تنزيل خريطة بصيغة بي دي إف للعثور على اقتباسات طباعية باللغتين العربية والإنجليزية من تصميم فرح فياض في شيباردز بوش ولادبروك غروف وتشيلسيا وبارك رويال.

سيكون كل مقتطف مصمم بصورة جميلة مقتبسًا من روايتي هبة حايك ويارا هواري الجديدتين " Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies" و"The Stone House" اللتين نشرتهما دار Hajar Press للنشر.

سيشغل كل اقتباس موقعًا هامًا من الناحية الثقافية للمهجر العربي في غرب لندن، وسيتمكن الزائرون والمارة في المقاهي والمساحات الثقافية ومكتبات بيع الكتب من العثور على الاقتباسات على اللوحات الإعلانية والملصقات وحتى البطاقات البريدية في المتاجر.

Heba Hayek is a London-based writer born and raised in Gaza, Palestine. She completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Miami University, Ohio, and is studying for an MA in Social Anthropology at SOAS University of London. Heba has been involved in several activist movements, including for BDS, prison abolition and demilitarisation. Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies is her first book.

Yara Hawari is a Palestinian writer and political commentator. She completed her PhD in Middle East Politics at the University of Exeter, where her research focused on oral history and indigenous Studies. She currently works as a senior analyst at Al-Shabaka, a Palestinian think tank. The Stone House is her first book.

Farah Fayyad is a graphic designer from Beirut, Lebanon with two very particular interests: lettering and silk screen printing. Her work involves a lot of play with Arabic and bilingual scripts and design. She has worked at renowned design studios and started Silkroad, an experimental print-making studio in Beirut. She is currently the inhouse designer at Dar El-Nimer for Arts & Culture, a museum and cultural space in Beirut and is setting up a new educational printmaking platform in Armenia.

HAJAR Press publishes ambitious and politically engaged fiction and nonfiction, including poetry and essays, by writers of colour. We are interested in writing that embodies how politics are lived and that conveys the relations between structures and personal experiences.

Commissioned by Shubbak Festival. Curated & produced by Zain Dada. With the support from Old Oak and Park Royal Development (ODPC) Great Place Scheme, supported by National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council.

With thanks to Francis Botu and Jessica Pentney of the Bush Theatre for their installation work. Additional thanks to Makan and Aser Al Saqqa for their suggestions and contributions to The Distant Here.