The Dunes Strike Back!
Luminary thinkers, writers and artists gathered in the first public forum of its kind to discuss the burgeoning impact of Science Fiction on the Muslim world today. Yesterday, over 200 people flocked to the British Library’s auditorium to join a nebulous Arab Sci-Fi movement set to boldly imagine new visions of the future.
Here are the highlights and reflections from an event that was out of this world.
Award-winning journalist, Faisal Al Yafai eruditely chaired a stellar panel of creative visionaries who showcased their parallel worlds and alternate futures in film and SF literature.
We traversed exhilarating cosmic conquests and intergalactic rescue missions, right through to speculating on the environmental crisis of civilisation and survival beyond post-oil futures.
The atmosphere was electric and the audience was buzzing with excitement in the countdown to the event.
After a morning of volunteering at #MFestUK , I’m excited to attend this panel discussion with Muslim sci-fi authors ? ? #SindbadSciFi pic.twitter.com/sp14jPGPgU
— Halima (@halimaaaa93) April 28, 2018
great anticipation waiting for Spicing up Sci-Fi: the Dunes Strike Back @britishlibrary #MFestUK #SindbadSciFi inspiration for @McrMuseum @EgyptMcr @ethnomcr pic.twitter.com/V604xjsavu
— Bryan Sitch (@ArchaeoManc) April 28, 2018
We kicked off the session with a debut commission composed by Mim Rasouli, a talented Iranian musician, using an eclectic range of synth and classical instruments including the pulsating drum beats of Darbuka, Duff, Bendir, and Kamencheh along with the exotic strumming of Oud, Qanun and Violin to produce an ethereal sci-fi melody.
بخشی از کار جدیدم برای ایونت فردا در بریتش لایبرری
On Saturday April 28th at the British Library
there will be a great event with great guys of sci fi, that I made music for.
if you want to listen my music and participate in this good event, don't miss ithttps://t.co/lhhz8j86pk pic.twitter.com/apzcrB9u0z— Mim Rasouli (@mimrasouli) April 27, 2018
And…lift off!
It's finally Saturday, and an exciting one at the #MFestUK #SindbadSciFi event, panel includes @NouraNoman @NafeezAhmed @FaisalAlYafai @naomifoyle and Soren Lind. pic.twitter.com/Gg1r8El9e5
— Rohan Talbot (@rohantalbot) April 28, 2018
And the sci-do panel is kicking off! With @NouraNoman @NafeezAhmed @FaisalAlYafai @naomfoyle @MFestUK #MFestUK #sinbadscifi pic.twitter.com/agnjFZVt9X
— Akeela Ahmed (@AkeelaAhmed) April 28, 2018
#sindbadscifi The Butlerian Jihad element of Dune has enormous contemporary relevance @FaisalAlYafai
— Kev mcveigh (@kevmcveigh) April 28, 2018
At #MFestUK for #SindbadSciFi’s sci-fi panel @britishlibrary pic.twitter.com/CIfrNdrPfJ
— DLo (@dan_a_lowe) April 28, 2018
Noura Noman rocked the show!
I think I have a girl crush on @NoraNoman (@SindbadSciFi @MFestUK panel at @britishlibrary) https://t.co/N8BTuTzflr
— nariman youssef (@nariology) April 28, 2018
@nouraalnoman talking abt writing #scifi in #Arabic with a female protagonist. #womenwriters #Equality #MFest #SinbadSciFi pic.twitter.com/pTYpOEt6PT
— Defello (@defelilo) April 28, 2018
Loving this @SindbadSciFi #mfest event exploring Arab perspectives on futures, climate change, politics and technology. Noura Al-Noman is so brilliant. pic.twitter.com/q1xXDbcoTZ
— Alice Bell (@alicebell) April 28, 2018
Fantastic session on sci-fi at #MFestUK with range of panellists. @NouraNoman author of Ajwan is delightful – the perfect combination of humour, self-deprication and sobriety with references to important and pertinent socio-political themes #SciFi pic.twitter.com/Oilzb0HF6V
— Esmat J (@Esmat_J) April 28, 2018
also wonderful to see much twitter love directed @NouraNoman. Clearly #Dune translation eagerly awaited #mfest #SindbadSciFi @SindbadSciFi
— Faisal Al Yafai (@FaisalAlYafai) April 28, 2018
So much twitter love in my timeline for Emirati SF author-publisher @NouraNoman ? which is as it should be. https://t.co/24X9U7YxvZ
— M. Lynx Qualey (@arablit) April 28, 2018
@NouraNoman explains how Frank Herbert’s DUNE inspired her approach to worldbuilding in writing Arabic Science Fiction #SindbadSciFi #MFest pic.twitter.com/rdApjSBN5g
— Sindbad Sci-Fi (@SindbadSciFi) April 29, 2018
We have a copy in the BL (YP.2016.a.4539) thanks to a donation from Noura a couple of years back #MFestUK pic.twitter.com/JW10KYbf1N
— DLo (@dan_a_lowe) April 28, 2018
.@nouranoman: I wrote Ajwan after failing to find any #YA Arabic fiction that could compete with The Hunger Games. The main character is a refugee facing a group of the radicalised & disenfranchised #SindbadSciFi #MFestUK
— GCU Six of Seven (@asyndetic) April 28, 2018
Cool news from @NouraNoman that Dune is coming out translated into Arabic published by @Makhtoota5229 #MFestUK
— DLo (@dan_a_lowe) April 28, 2018
.@NouraNoman: in the end I had to agree to using the original words, but prepared a large introduction. There are appendices that need to be translated too, so I'm…doomed. But it's going to be very interesting #SindbadSciFi #MFest #Dune
— GCU Six of Seven (@asyndetic) April 28, 2018
#sindbadscifi @NouraNoman my protagonist had to be a girl, why the heck not. She's a refugee.
Noura jokes she predicted ISIS but really those ideas are longstanding— Kev mcveigh (@kevmcveigh) April 28, 2018
We weren’t short of riveting SciFi books to discuss.
Sci-fi talk at #MFest so Interesting with an insight of amazing books ??? pic.twitter.com/9slqUqv85H
— Wafaa Sirokh (@WafaaSirokh) April 28, 2018
Nafeez Ahmed, a best-selling British investigative reporter and international security analyst explained the rationale of writing Zero Point, a political science-fiction thriller featuring mass riots, blackouts, financial meltdown and a new oil war in Iraq to keep the world economy afloat.
.@nafeezahmed: the power of sci-fi is you can de-politicise the possibilities you're exploring, which in my case is the stuff of conspiracy theory: the massive private infrastructure of security & intelligence services & the complete lack of accountability #SindbadSciFi #MFestUK
— GCU Six of Seven (@asyndetic) April 28, 2018
His insights were right on the pulse.
A snippet of @NafeezAhmed discussing themes in his sci-fi novel Zero Point @MFestUK #MFestUK pic.twitter.com/TJlZXuKxeD
— Akeela Ahmed (@AkeelaAhmed) April 28, 2018
#Journalist @NafeezAhmed talking about wanting to get out from under the pressure of having to write about Muslims in his #scifi.
Good point. Authors of various identities shouldn't be obligated to represent if that's never been their goal.
— Christa Blackmon (@TheOdalisque) April 28, 2018
#sindbadscifi @NafeezAhmed the security networks have expanded beyond the possibility of accountability. SF can bypass some of this.
— Kev mcveigh (@kevmcveigh) April 28, 2018
#mfest @NafeezAhmed – Sci fi enables exploration of very controversial ideas in a way that is less possible in the real world. #sindbadscifi This is what Gene Roddenberry did in Star Trek.
— ((((Julian Bond)))) (@julianbond12) April 28, 2018
Naomi Foyle gave a compelling outline for writing an eco-science fantasy quartet set in a post-fossil fuel Mesopotamia.
@naomifoyle author of the wonderful Gaia chronicles discusses how Sci-Fi is a revolutionary genre offering a way of creating solutions to current problems @MFestUK pic.twitter.com/7A6nhoyCgd
— Syima Aslam (@SyimaAslam) April 28, 2018
@naomifoyle explains how reading Dune shows it’s possible for fiction writers to engage fruitfully with cultures not one's own & the intellectual density of the book reflects the deep respect Frank Herbert had for his Arabic and Islamic influences #SindbadSciFi #MFest pic.twitter.com/gfdeKTLXEU
— Sindbad Sci-Fi (@SindbadSciFi) April 29, 2018
@NouraNoman: Dune will soon be available in Arabic for the very first time. Amazing that it has taken this long.
— Rohan Talbot (@rohantalbot) April 28, 2018
.@naomifoyle talking about #scifi as an "early warning system".
Relevant! Especially as @nafeezahmed + @nouraoman quipped they foresaw rise of #ISIS in their works. #mfest
— Christa Blackmon (@TheOdalisque) April 28, 2018
Learned a new term during #Mfest #SinbadSciFi : Cli-Fi , sci-fi focused on #climate issues & #tech. #CliFi pic.twitter.com/xOS6p6P4Hz
— Defello (@defelilo) April 28, 2018
.@naomifoyle: my problem with much #scifi is it's basically rooted in medievalism, a feudal system. I envision democracy as a loom of dialogue & negotiation; I'm looking for answers. Sci-fi can be a revolutionary genre & maybe that's why it gets sidelined #SindbadSciFi #MFestUK
— GCU Six of Seven (@asyndetic) April 28, 2018
@naomifoyle reciting the incisive words from Ahmed Khaled Towfik RIP – the Egyptian godfather of SciFi on social class – “a society without a middle class (as a buffer to nuclear rods) is primed for imminent explosion”
— Sindbad Sci-Fi (@SindbadSciFi) April 28, 2018
Can we have some inter faith sci fi? Dune probably got there first. #mfest
— ((((Julian Bond)))) (@julianbond12) April 28, 2018
.@naomifoyle on how sci fi is looking for answers {scripture looks for answers too} #mfest #sindbadscifi
— ((((Julian Bond)))) (@julianbond12) April 28, 2018
We had a taster of the acclaimed Sci-Fi film projects Larissa Sansour and Soren Lind are collaborating on.
“Palestine is an accelerated microcosm of the global environment challenges facing us” ~ Soren Lind giving a preview of his latest futuristic film project with Larissa Sanour ‘IN VITRO’ #SindbadSciFi #MFest
— Sindbad Sci-Fi (@SindbadSciFi) April 28, 2018
Soren is now presenting sketches from a new film he and Larissa are working on about an #ecodisaster in #Bethelehem that mirrors the experience of exile. #palestine #scifi #mfest
— Christa Blackmon (@TheOdalisque) April 28, 2018
Absolutely in love with Sorren Lind's contribution on the panel in #Mfest. Looking forward to 'In-vitro'.
— Aya Nassar (@A_M_Nassar) April 28, 2018
#mfest Soren Lind on archaeology as warfare, must check out his films pic.twitter.com/HcTLHXmHR3
— Saimma Dyer (@SaimmaDyer) April 28, 2018
Fascinating preview of a film in which archeology is the front line of war @MFestUK pic.twitter.com/sOioAHieDF
— Syima Aslam (@SyimaAslam) April 28, 2018
Fascinating discussion about archeology as a tool of war, projecting nations backwards in to history to establish legitimacy @MFestUK
— Syima Aslam (@SyimaAslam) April 28, 2018
We pondered on whether some sci-fi can be thought of as called ‘speculative history’?
#sindbadscifi Soren Lind SF has a nostalgic component suspended between past & future which ideally suits Palestinian situation
— Kev mcveigh (@kevmcveigh) April 28, 2018
#sindbadscifi panel pic.twitter.com/vipqQyHfN7
— Kev mcveigh (@kevmcveigh) April 28, 2018
Soren Lind, film director: "In Vitro", which I made with Larissa Sansour, is an eco-disaster film set in Palestine, but that's really an excuse to explore one of the key issues of the country, of exile #SindbadSciFi #MFestUK
— GCU Six of Seven (@asyndetic) April 28, 2018
Beautiful clip from Larissa Sansour's & Soren Lind's "Burial". Now I need to go find all their films & watch them! #MFest #SindbadSciFi pic.twitter.com/5IQHUAvRuJ
— nariman youssef (@nariology) April 28, 2018
Soren Lind explains how IN VITRO, his new Sci-Fi film with Larissa Sanour, resonates with the themes in Frank Herbert’s Dune >> Power struggles, ecological disaster, biblical storytelling, apocalypse, control of resources. #SindbadSciFi #MFest #Palestine pic.twitter.com/pNO9PSZ6U0
— Sindbad Sci-Fi (@SindbadSciFi) April 29, 2018
The probing questions from the gushing audience came thick and fast.
#sindbadscifi good audience question about colonialism in Dune and Arab writers. @NouraNoman is publishing Dune in Arabic for first time ever!
— Kev mcveigh (@kevmcveigh) April 28, 2018
Exploring #SciFi in film and popular culture to predict and provide answers for the “real world” issues, highlighting unspoken issues that lie under the surface through forms of escapism and fictitious/ imagined worlds. Narratives of the ‘Other’ #nonwesterncontext #MFest @MFestUK pic.twitter.com/99H3cTRt8D
— Nyssa Myeda Mirza (@MirzA_NyssA) April 28, 2018
.@nouranoman is giving a great answer to my question about themes of #colonialism in #Dune and #Arab #scifi: Herbert puts seeds of understanding imperialism through realization Bene Gesserit had been manipulating native histories ! #mfest
— Christa Blackmon (@TheOdalisque) April 28, 2018
#sindbadscifi good audience question about colonialism in Dune and Arab writers. @NouraNoman is publishing Dune in Arabic for first time ever!
— Kev mcveigh (@kevmcveigh) April 28, 2018
#sindbadscifi audience q asks about SF as cover for looking at fraught issues. Soren Lind talks about ways to avoid preexisting dialogues to create new points.
— Kev mcveigh (@kevmcveigh) April 28, 2018
Some questions provoked humour and laughter.
@NouraNoman cracking up the audience on how the rise of YA dystopias is decreasing the number of Arabs in the world ?#SindbadSciFi #MFest pic.twitter.com/MiBBZNFUK8
— Sindbad Sci-Fi (@SindbadSciFi) April 29, 2018
With 5 stellar panellists in full swing, we couldn’t stop the spices flowing…
#mfest We're getting extra time in this session, everyone is enjoying it too much 🙂
— ((((Julian Bond)))) (@julianbond12) April 28, 2018
Anyway thanks for a brilliant panel. Needed to be 4 separate 1 hour interviews 🙂
— Adela Terrell (@Adela_Terrell) April 28, 2018
Great thread from #Mfest #SciFi panel audience. @NouraNoman @NafeezAhmed @naomifoyle you were great. Thank you so much for coming. https://t.co/uNuU0dl6s8
— Naima Khan (@KhanNaima) April 28, 2018
The @SindbadSciFi panel @MFestUK covered everything from new interest in Arab sci-fi to the political implications of dystopian fiction. pic.twitter.com/3njxlOhwm4
— Tasnim (@TasnimQ) April 28, 2018
@FaisalAlYafai charismatically closing the #SindbadSciFi panel on a high note. Thanks for coming folks! May the force be with you ✨#MFest pic.twitter.com/43SnDD1gLb
— Sindbad Sci-Fi (@SindbadSciFi) April 29, 2018
The pace of the intense discussion was so riveting many of us struggled with live tweeting but the accolades kept flowing even after the event and the conversations continued.
Congratulations to @MFestUK and @SindbadSciFi for a fascinating panel at @britishlibrary this afternoon! pic.twitter.com/ex31Gr6bA4
— Shubbak (@shubbakfestival) April 28, 2018
Superb panel on Arab #scifi with @NouraNoman @NafeezAhmed @naomifoyle & Søren Lind chaired by @FaisalAlYafai @britishlibrary as part of #MFest this afternoon.
Thanks to you all and to @CoVALENT_Yasmin for curating it! #SinbadSciFi
— Shohini Chaudhuri (@shohini2016) April 28, 2018
Excellent panel by @FaisalAlYafai @naomifoyle @NafeezAhmed Larissa Sansour, Soren Lind, Noura al-Noman on the ecocritical, colonial, political underpinnings of Frank Herbert's Dune. Alignments with current Arab sci-fi @SindbadSciFi @MFestUK #MFest
— Fariha Shaikh (@DrFarihaShaikh) April 28, 2018
Fantastic talk at #MFest #sindbadSciFi with @NouraNoman @NafeezAhmed @FaisalAlYafai @naomifoyle and Soren Lind GREAT discussion about the relevance of sci-fi in our world today and in Arab culture
— Farrah Chaudhry (@farrahchaudhry) April 28, 2018
I think she's managed to develop more of a fan base yday so the appetite for a translation is there for when she's ready ? so privileged to have heard her speak, what a rockstar – thank you @MFestUK @NouraNoman @SindbadSciFi
— storminateeqa (@storminateeqa) April 29, 2018
Curated by Sindbad Sci-Fi, the event was staged in partnership with MFest, the UK’s inaugural annual arts festival of Muslim cultures and ideas.
“Spicing up #scifi @MFestUK pic.twitter.com/QlrZBVu61R
— Aziz Foundation (@AzizFndn) April 28, 2018
Huge thanks to the Aziz Foundation and Google DeepMind for sponsoring MFest and supporting our stellar panel!
@CoVALENT_Yasmin so wonderful to meet you today. Congrats on another fantastic panel event. I love everything @SindbadSciFi : You're a rock star! pic.twitter.com/Kh5trrXWJz
— Defello (@defelilo) April 28, 2018
*Blush*
lucky to hear all about my fav #visualartist @larissasansour new projects directly from her collaborator screenplay writter Søren Lind. Thank you @SindbadSciFi & @covalent_yasmin : you are the best!#mfest #SindbadSciFi pic.twitter.com/QpCjKiN5jv
— Defello (@defelilo) April 28, 2018
It’s a wrap. We’re ALL Duned!! 🙂 #SinbadSciFi #MFest
— Sindbad Sci-Fi (@SindbadSciFi) April 28, 2018
So rewarding to bring grassroots communities together to share passions and find common ground, virtually and physically. #SindbadSciFi #MFest
— Yasmin Khan (@CoVALENT_Yasmin) April 29, 2018
THE END. Now go read!
#MFest Book stall lined up with an array of glorious Arab SciFi ?#SindbadSciFi pic.twitter.com/HIMe6WJ1YQ
— Sindbad Sci-Fi (@SindbadSciFi) April 28, 2018