I’m still trying to get my head around summer in the southern hemisphere. That summer having passed is bizarre to me. My senses, emotions and actions are in spring mode. I’ve spent most of my life on the northern hemisphere and if anything that’s how my emotional body clock ticks. Is it changeable though? As I go through editing my latest novel from Israel-Palestine with my good friend Jim Magnus, I am also working on a few vignettes, short stories and essays. These are signs that tell me I’m in the mode of beginnings, of creation. However the changing light signals the opposite. Is this possible I ask myself? Is it possible that there is a difference? Who am I or what am I to add significance to such a triviality? Or is it?
The beginning of 2018 I will explore this and I will explore further living in the strange. The Egyptian-Arabic expression that describes living outside of Egypt, beyond the place where the sun sets. I continue to work on my autobiography and continue to talk to people about how we perceive who we are. How we look at our identity. I’m excited to venture to Margaret River for the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival as a guest speaker. It’s three days showcasing an array of storytelling talent. With more than 50 writers, journalists, illustrators and presenters readers join writers as stories are brought to life in many forms. I look forward to meeting writers such as Assaf Gavron whose writing offers insight and hope into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I can’t wait to hear the readers and their hopes and dreams and least but most importantly, answer their questions.
If you’re in Perth, make your way to Margaret River. It’s on the shores of the Indian Ocean, where the Souther Ocean muscles in. The air is cold and crisp I remember, the water clear and untamed. I look forward to seeing it again. It’s been more than a decade since I last visited. I look forward to meeting you.
Salaam
Morsi
