2nd International Writer’s Festival 2010 – Before It Begins

I’m an imposter, a fraud. I’ll be found out, exposed. Should I run away? What will I do there? I won’t belong.
I’m too young, in my early twenties, arriving in sneakers straight from a hike. Will they all be middle aged and mature, attired in suits and ties, carrying briefcases, not faded backpacks like mine? They are established, while I am only beginning my path.

I’m too religious. I’m Ultra-Orthodox, at home in synagogues and the hotel lobbies where I Shidduch date. What will I do at a writer’s conference, filled with the secular literati?  In Israel we live in two parallel universes which never meet, Orthodox writers separate from the rest of the world, with our own publishers, our own press, our own target audience. We aren’t usually invited to conferences like this one. Indeed, I’m curious to see how many, if any, Orthodox writers will be speaking at the conference.

I’m not a writer by career. I’m ashamed to show my business cards, they have “engineer” stamped on them, not “writer” or “editor” or “journalist”. I can’t even claim to be an English Language major, or a graduate of a creative writing course. This isn’t my field.

I don’t write for the printed press. My words never reach paper. I grab moments to write, while commuting on the bus and before falling asleep at night, but the words I type remain forever virtual, bits and bytes stored in my computer, posted to the world wide web, read always on a screen.

So I arrive with questions.

Are young, new, voices being encouraged to speak, to write?

Will Orthodox writers also be welcomed? Writing is about hearing the other; hearing the other’s voice, hearing the other’s story. Literature could bridge the divides we erect in Jewish society, if we only tried to use it.

Can the online world of online blogging meet the traditional world of novels? I read books less and less, blogs more and more. Blogs are more relevant to me, closer to my real life, easier to relate to.  I suspect it’s the same for many twenty first century readers. There’s a vast migration to the online word going on, will it be acknowledged, discussed?

And finally, who will be welcomed? Is writing the province only of the elite, those successful enough to be able to dedicate themselves solely to the task of writing, or does literature belong to us all?

This week is the second International Writers Conference in Jerusalem.  By the end of it I hope I have the answers, for myself, and for you.

Sara Shamansky

Sara Shamansky writes a blog on her experiences as a young, single, woman in Israel’s Ultra Orthodox society. Her novel-in-progress on Shidduch dating is appearing there chapter by chapter.  She will be blogging about the writer’s festival for Midnight East.

Image credit: Mishkenot Sha’ananim, Jerusalem. Photo by EdoM