Kevin Williamson

Hello and welcome to this interview here with Mohamed Moussa, Palestinian poet from Gaza.

I'm Kevin Williamson, I work at the Scottish Poetry Library and I'd just like to welcome Mo to discuss his work, his poetry and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Before we start, Mo, tell us a little bit about growing up in Gaza, what it was like.

What sort of things did your family do work-wise?

Does your sense of roots in Gaza, do you feel this has been damaged in your memory?

Or is your memory still very strong of all the places and the streets, the beach, the people round about you?

And this is something almost unutterable that an entire people are going through.

This ability of yours to utilize language

to utilize it as a form of self-expression, as a form of memory.

You've expressed that education was very important to you growing up.

Was that a driving force to educate yourself, to communicate beyond Palestine?

Absolutely.

Before you built the Gaza Poets Society, journalism was your art form and your education led you first, wasn't it?

I'm fascinated by the relationship between writing, prose, journalism, and writing poetry, because I started off as a journalist and moved into poetry.

What was your need to express yourself in poetry that you found couldn't be done in prose, couldn't be done with journalism?

What drove you into poetry or attracted you to poetry?

That's a very good question.

You said your family.

I know this is an intrusive question.

How many of your close family have been killed by the Israelis?