“Pen of Peace” Writing Program

Ono Academic College invites Jerusalem students to apply to the Amos Oz Memorial “Pen of Peace” program.  Amos Oz, the prize-winning Israeli author, was one of the program’s founders.

“Pen of Peace” is a Hebrew-Arabic creative writing initiative that brings together Jewish and Arab Bachelor’s and Master’s degree students from East and West Jerusalem to write collaboratively.  Together, the participants will attend weekly classes covering various writing techniques. They will learn to recognize the stages of the writing process, will practice working in diverse writing styles and will apply creative writing to their own lives and the lives of other writers in Jerusalem. 

The teaching will take place in English (and if necessary, there will be simultaneous translation).  The writing will be in the native language of each participant with a translation made into Hebrew or Arabic, respectively.  At the conclusion of the program each story will appear in a book published in both Hebrew and Arabic.

The academic coordinators of the program are Dr. Rana Abbas and Professor Yuval Elbashan.

The program is free for accepted participants.  Applicants must submit an entrance essay and participate in an admissions interview.  Places are limited.

Applicants are encouraged to send a Hebrew or Arabic writing sample of 1500 words to the email address etshalom@ono.ac.il by 15.2.2021.   Relevant applicants will be invited to an admissions interview in March 2021.

(The “Pen of Peace” program tagline is “And they shall beat their swords into plougshares” (Isaiah 2:4).   In Hebrew, the words for “pen” and “ploughshare” are homonyms.)