On Monday, 22 September, Carlow College welcomed Palestinian writer, translator, and researcher Alaa Alqaisi for a deeply engaging talk in Cobden Hall.
Alaa spoke to a full audience, sharing moving reflections on life and loss in her home city of Gaza. Her talk centred around her essay “The View from Gaza – As Seen Through W.B. Yeats’s Widening Gyres”, published on LiteraryHub.com, which draws on Yeats’s The Second Coming to explore the emotional and political landscape of Gaza through a literary lens.
The event offered a rare opportunity to hear firsthand perspectives from a writer whose work bridges cultures and histories, connecting Irish literature with contemporary Palestinian experience.
During her visit, Alaa also expressed sincere thanks to the Carlow College community for their support of her “Bring Alaa to Ireland” GoFundMe campaign, which helped make her visit possible.
