Sara Khayat & Elsusi at Banned Books Week in Copenhagen
Danish PEN once again hosted Banned Books Week across Denmark from 5–11 October, with events, debates and exhibitions in libraries, cultural houses and educational institutions. The campaign focused on banned books, censorship, freedom of expression, and artistic freedom.
The City of Copenhagen, the only ICORN City of Refuge in Denmark, was an active part of the campaign. As part of the initiative, Jonas Kongstad Østergård, the ICORN Coordinator in Copenhagen, arranged two events featuring visual artist Sara Khayat, former ICORN resident in Gävle, and musical artist Elsusi, former ICORN resident in Stavanger.
On Saturday 10 October, illustrator and children’s book creator Sara Khayat led a creative workshop at Nørrebro Library. With inspiration and guidance from Sara, children and adults designed their own book covers, choosing titles and filling the pages with ideas, dreams, drawings and collages. The workshop sparked engaging conversations with the children about creativity, self-expression, and the power of finding their own voices.
Later that day, our Palestinian rapper, music producer and songwriter, Elsusi took to the stage at the music venue, Union KBH, for a powerful performance blending Arabic hip-hop, melodic songwriting and electronic beats.
The evening began with a conversation featuring Elsusi, Mille Rode from Danish PEN and Ole Reitov from Freemuse. Together, they discussed Elsusi’s experiences of surviving the destruction and humanitarian crisis in Gaza and being forced to leave his homeland. How he continues to develop his long-established artistic career after displacement, using music as a powerful means of expression, and how his work explores identity, displacement, love, fatherhood, and artistic freedom.
Elsusi said:
‘I was evacuated from Gaza because of the ongoing genocide. Music became my way of surviving, preserving my identity, and continuing to create.’
Throughout Banned Books Week, Sara Khayat and Elsusi shared their creativity, art and perspectives with Copenhagen audiences, young and old, and brought these important conversations about censorship and freedom of expression to life through their art.
