Dareen Tatour – Biography

 

Dareen Tatour is a Palestinian poet, photographer, filmmiking, Political activist, and social media activist from Reineh, Palestine. In 2018, she was tried and convicted in an Israeli occupation court for inciting violence and supporting a terrorist organization, following the publication of a poem on social media. She was released in 2018 after serving a prison term.

Since then, world opinion has drawn attention to her case. The BBC said that "the poet's case has become a cause célèbre for free speech advocates and has drawn attention to a recent rise in Israeli arrests - of  Palestinians in the occupied accused of incitement or planning attacks online. "PEN AMERICA has continuously supported Tatour’s case, stating that her conviction “relies on a wanton mischaracterization of her work and is an unacceptable attack on freedom of expression in Israel”. Jewish Voice for Peace and Adalah NY has also openly supported her.

Tatour is the recipient of the OXFAM Novib/PEN award 2019 for freedom of expression. A Hebrew online magazine, Maayan, awarded Tatour the 2016 prize for creativity in struggle, and she was also awarded the Danish Carl Scharenberg Prize for standing against injustice through her poetry in 2017.In 2020 she won the Freedom of Expression Award in Norway - Oslo.

Running through all Tatour’s work is a double narrative of oppression against the Palestinian people and also oppression of women under a patriarchal society.     

Since her release from prison, She was convicted on May 30, 2018, and on 31 July 2018 sentenced to 5 months imprisonment. She was released in September, 2018.

 

 has appeared at events around the world, including Holland, Sweden and Germany. She was a guest speaker at the CREA conference on violence against marginalized women.  “I, Dareen Tatour”, a solo documentary work by Israeli actress, director and activist, has been shown both in Israel and abroad, based on Tatour’s experiences.

 

Social media posts and arrest:

In October 2015, Tatour published a poem on YouTube and Facebook titled "Qawem Ya Shaabi Qawemahum" ("Resist my people, resist them"),where the words were cited as the soundtrack to images of Palestinians in violent confrontations with the occupation army. This led to her arrest and indictment for incitement to violence and for support of a terrorist organization. A full translation of the poem as made by a police officer is cited in the indictment document. The rest of the indictment relates to 3 Facebook publication. She was sentenced to 5 months in prison after serving another three years in house arrest.

 

 

 

Dareen Tatour – Bibliography

 

DAREEN TATOUR

Poet and Photographer, Political Activist, Social Media Activist

 

Publications:

The Last Invasion, Nazareth: El Wattan Books, 2010

My Threatening Poem, Arabic, Tunis: Dyar Publishing and Distribution House, 2018.

Threatening Poem - Memoir of a Poet in Occupation Prisons, English Version. Scotland: Drunk Muse Press, 2020

Poetry in English Translation:

“Detaining a Poem”, “Beware” and “Story of a Child”, translated by Andrew Leber,  Brooklyn Rail, March 2018.

“A Poet’s Hallucinations”, translated by Jonathan Wright, in ArabLit, September 2017.

“Resist, My People, Resist Them”, translated by Tariq al Haydar, in ArabLit,  April 2016.

Other Artistic Ventures:

Survivors Recount, a documentary film on the uprooted village Al-Damoun in the Galilee, 2015, aired in Tamra, in the Galillee 

Tell Me About My Homeland, 2012, an exhibition of photographs and poems displayed in Nazareth, Haifa, Tamra, Renne, Shefar’am, Amman (Jordan) and the Palestinian refugee camp Al Yarmouk in Syria. The exhibition was slated to open in Gaza in 2015, but was curtailed after Tatour’s arrest in October, 2015. 

Survivors Recount, a documentary film on the uprooted village Al-Damoun in the Galilee, 2015.

I, Dareen Tatour”, 2018, a play in collaboration with theatre artist Einat Weitzman, directed by Nitzan Cohen and performed by Weitzman. This play has been shown at Tamu-na Theatre, Tel Aviv since October 2018 to packed audiences, and also abroad.

Min Hotfulla Dikt, 2022, a play in Sweden.  

Prizes

2016: Maayan’s Award for Creativity in Struggle

2017: Carl Scharenberg Prize for standing against injustice through poetry

2019: OXFAM Novib/PEN award 2019 for freedom of expression.

2020: The Freedom of Expression Award in Norway - Oslo.

ICORN:

15-09-2020: ICORN residency in Sweden.