Words of the Artistic Director

I am honored and delighted to welcome you to the opening of the International Writers Festival at Mishkenot Sha’ananim in Jerusalem.
The festival offers a moment of grace amidst the clamor—a space where words take center stage, and writers and readers from around the world come together to listen, engage in conversation, and share ideas, dreams, fears, and hopes.
This year, we have chosen to highlight the relationship between literature and the rapidly changing world. We seek to illuminate the places where literature is not merely a response to reality, but an active force within it — a force that sheds light, challenges, connects, and expands.

We are proud to host 12 international writers this year, most of them European, as part of a collaboration with the European Union. We turn to Europe not only as a source of literary inspiration but also as a space in which we can explore the role of the writer in society.
Does literature have the power to effect change?
Can writers and philosophers such as Bernard-Henri Lévy and Michel Houellebecq help shape social discourse?
These are the questions we will address through a vibrant dialogue with leading European authors, aiming to introduce the Israeli public to the diversity of contemporary European literature — and perhaps also to ask whether we might imagine a cultural model in which literary figures play a significant role as agents of change and culture.

Last year, the festival was marked by the events of October 7th — a day that shook our lives and whose impact continues to be deeply felt. The pain and sorrow are still with us, and 59 hostages remain in Gaza.
Is there room for hope within this pain?
Or perhaps it is precisely from the duty to remember that we are also obliged to make space for hope?

The work of curating this festival has been guided by deep listening — listening to the need for meaningful conversation, which is not always easy or comfortable, but is courageous and precise. Out of this attentiveness, we have crafted a rich, diverse program that brings together local and international voices — established and emerging authors, multiple languages, and surprising, thought-provoking perspectives.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the wonderful team at Mishkenot Sha’ananim, to the Jerusalem Foundation for their generous support which makes this wide-ranging cultural event possible, to our many partners who help realize this vision year after year, and of course — to you, our audience, who bring with you a deep love for literature and the curiosity that drives

this entire endeavor.

Please join us celebrating the love of literature and life,

 Julia Fermento- Tzaisler