Ala Hlehel [ Palestine ]

Ala Hlehel (Alaa Hulaihil) was born in Jesh, Galilee in 1974. The Palestinian Israeli studied scriptwriting in Tel Aviv and communications as well as fine arts at the University of Haifa. Subsequently, he worked for the non-governmental organisations »Mossawa« and »I’LAM,« was a presenter for a radio station in Haifa, wrote for several newspapers including »Al-Ittihad,« and was editor-in-chief of »Al-Madina.« In addition to theatre plays, film and television scripts,and a novel, he has written several short stories published in magazines, anthologies and on the Internet – many of which have only been published in English translation.

Hlehel’s realistic, humourous narratives operate within the tradition of Palestinian literature as found in the works of Emile Habibi and Ghassan Kanafani. Emerging from familiar, everyday situations, his texts often develop a parabolic or surreal character, revealing hypocrisy and injustice alongside absurdity, contingency and transience. The story »My husband is a bus driver,« published in the magazine »Banipal 23« and in the anthology »Unbuttoning the Violin« (2006), is an account of a wife’s ever-increasing disappointment with her marriage, which once held the promise of excitement. The first-person narrative »The Passport« (from the anthology »Madinah«, 2008) shows how the military hostilities between Israel and Lebanon determine everyday reality for civilians and make normality almost impossible. Hlehel portrays the nightmarish but also comic circumstances of the narrator’s vain attempts to extend his passport, which he needs in order to go on a book tour in the UK. The lack of trust between Jews and Palestinians in Israel is the theme of the story »The Bearded Man,« published in »World Literature Today«. The narrator’s beard, grown with nothing specific in mind, sets in motion a rapid stream of experience based on continual suspicion, live news reports of an attack and paranoid fantasies that he will receive the blame for it.

For his novel »Al-Sirk« (2002; t: The Circus), Hlehel was awarded first prize by the Qattan Foundation in 2002, a Palestinian organisation based both in London and Ramallah. In 2003, the foundation also honoured his short story collection »Qissas li-awqāt al-hāğa« (2003; t: Stories in Time of Need). That same year, Hlehel took part in the annual international playwrights’ residency at the Royal Court Theatre in London. Three years later, he went on  book tour through England. In 2008, a dramatic reading of his text »Ein ganz ganz treuer Soldat« (t: A Truly Truly Loyal Soldier) was performed at the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, Berlin. The author lives in Akkon in northern Israel.

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