Palestinian writer Adania Shibli reflects on the journey of becoming a writer. Writing, she explains, is not a skill that becomes easier with time, but rather one that deepens in complexity. “The more you do it, the more difficult it gets,” she says.
For Shibli, the essence of writing lies in its ability to dissolve the self. “Writing has been always for me this foggy landscape, so I never know where I am, in fact, and I never ask myself where I am, because it is about the complete elimination of the self.” This immersion in language, she suggests, is what allows for true creative exploration.
The act of beginning, however, is a special and essential moment. “Anyone who just starts writing, this is the best moment for them because they are starting with a sort of least challenging and the least difficult part, therefore they should just continue.” She contrasts this with other crafts, such as carpentry, where experience leads to mastery, whereas in writing, “it’s more sensitivities, more questions, or more difficulties.”
Shibli also reflects on the importance of reading and the books that have shaped her thinking. She describes her engagement with ‘Prisoner of Love’ by Jean Genet as an exploration of what it means to be a writer in the world. She also cites Agota Kristof’s ‘The Illiterate’ as a reminder that “we can always start again, being illiterate in language, in any language, even in writing.”
Ultimately, writing, for Shibli, is an ongoing search rather than a fixed destination. “As long as you are on this wrong track of yourself, which I think is necessary in writing, it means writing should continue. When you become on the right track, this is for me the end of the text.”
Adania Shibli, born in Palestine in 1974, is a celebrated author, essayist and cultural critic. Her acclaimed works include Touch (2010) and Minor Detail (2017), which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize. Shibli’s writing is known for its poetic prose and exploration of memory, identity, and the limits of narration. Shibli holds a Ph.D. from the University of East London in Media and Cultural Studies. Her dissertation is titled Visual Terror: A Study of the Visual Compositions of the 9/11 Attacks and Major Attacks in the ‘War on Terror’ by British and French Television Networks. Adania Shibli continues to be a vital voice in contemporary literature, bridging personal and political realities through her work.
Lotte Folke Kaarsholm interviewed Adania Shibli in connection with the Louisiana Literature festival at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in August 2024.
Camera: Rasmus Quistgaard
Edit: Signe Boe Petersen
Produced by Christian Lund
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2024
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