Julie Hesmondhalgh – star of ITV’s Broadchurch and Mr Bates Vs The Post Office – is set to join the Palestinian writer Sondos Sabra and readers including the Leeds poet Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan for a reading of diaries and poetry from Gazan writers at Leeds Playhouse on 5 February.

Julie, who last appeared at the Playhouse in 2019 in Charley Miles’ There Are No Beginnings, says, “I feel very honoured to be sharing the stage at the wonderful Leeds Playhouse, as part of Voices of Resilience, alongside these incredible readers  – and especially, of course, Sondos, who astonishingly will be there reading her own words. What a privilege to be able to hear her account firsthand.”

Sondos survived over two years of what a UN Commission has described as ‘genocide’ in Gaza City, while continuing to document the experience of her family and others for newspapers and in book form.

Writer and translator Sondos Sabra, one of four authors of the diary anthology Voices of Resistance: Diaries of Genocide (Comma Press), will take part in the Voices of Resilience event, which will also contain traditional Palestinian oud music and readings from the diaries of other Gazan writers drawn both the Voices of Resistance anthology and 48kg (a poetry collection by Batool Abu Akleen, published by Tenement Press).

From October 2023 onwards, Sondos has recorded her experience of displacement, famine and life under bombardment (including the murder of close family members), as well as many everyday moments of hope and resilience. Last month, she arrived to study for her master’s degree in the UK, something that had previously been impossible for most Gazan students since Israeli forces closed the Rafah Crossing in May 2024.

Voices of Resilience will also include readings from the diaries of the Gazan writers Batool Abu Akleen, Nahil Mohana and Ala’a Obaid, who each contributed to the Voices of Resistance anthology, alongside Deema Najjar who writes about her experience as a young deaf woman during the genocide.

These readings will be accompanied by traditional Palestinian oud music, from the musician Ahmed Adnan, and readings from the poetry of Batool Abu Akleen, performed by Leeds poet Suhaiymah Manzoor Khan, Leeds-based British-Palestinian performer Dani Abulhawa, British-Palestinian actress Liana Abdel-Hafiz, Mohammed Ghalayini (Gazan climate scientist and translator), and Reem (Gazan Writer).

The event will be followed by a panel with Sondos Sabra, Robert Lizar (human rights lawyer and representative of Jewish Voice for Liberation), lisa luxx (British-Syrian poet, playwright and activist) and Musheir El-Farra (Palestinian human rights activist, filmmaker and author from Khan Younis).

The event is produced by Comma Press. Previous performances have taken place at HOME Manchester, the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, the Barbican Centre, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Birmingham Literature Festival and Plymouth Theatre Royal. Previous readers have included Maxine Peake, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Yusra Warsama.

All of Comma’s proceeds from the event will go directly to the writers.