Peter Oswald walks hundreds of kilometers for Gaza during Ramadan

Peter Oswald, an English playwright, has set out on a 150-mile walking route to raise funds for children receiving education in Gaza and to stand against Islamophobia.

Oswald shared his connection to Gaza, stating, “I worked with a group of students in Gaza who performed a shortened version of ‘King Lear’. What they did was unimaginably beautiful. Then, suddenly, the entire city disappeared, and this has always stayed with me.”

13-day journey for solidarity and support

The 59-year-old writer, known for his contributions to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, began his journey on Tuesday from Bristol. His 13-day pilgrimage will conclude in London’s Parliament Square at the end of March.

According to Daily Mail, Peter Oswald will observe a fast from dawn to sunset throughout the Ramadan month as part of the Pilgrimage4Palestine initiative, showing solidarity with the Palestinian people and the global Muslim community.

Poetry performances along the route

In addition to walking, Peter Oswald will engage in poetry performances, reading a mix of his own works on Palestine and poems by young Palestinians.

He will be joined for part of the journey by his wife, Alice Oswald, an acclaimed former Oxford poetry professor and guest poet for BBC Radio 4.

Peter Oswald’s longstanding commitment to Gaza

Oswald, who has been involved with The Hands Up Project for nearly a decade, is raising money for the charity that connects volunteer teachers with children in Gaza.

Reflecting on his involvement, Oswald said, “Since 2017, I’ve been teaching and helping schoolchildren in Gaza and the West Bank. The personal contact with schoolchildren who are under heavy bombardment is something you can never ignore. I worked with a group of students in Gaza performing a shortened version of ‘King Lear’, and their performances and delivery were incredibly moving. Then, suddenly, the whole city was wiped out, and that memory will always stay with me.”

A long-standing artistic career

Peter Oswald is an accomplished playwright, poet, and actor whose works have been staged at Shakespeare’s Globe. His plays have been performed at the National Theatre, Birmingham Rep, Almeida, West End, and Broadway, among others, in several languages. His interpretation of Schiller’s “Mary Stuart” won the South Bank Award, and his play “The Golden Ass” was part of the Evening Standard Award-winning season in 2002.

Some of his plays have been published by Oberon Books, Methuen, and OUP, and his poems have appeared in Oberon Books, Shearsman Press, and The Letterpress Publishers. Oswald has also written four large-scale verse plays for the Ruskin Mill Educational Foundation, which works with autistic students.

Hands up project and volunteering for Gaza

Peter Oswald has actively volunteered for The Hands Up Project, working online to assist in the development of remote theater for teachers and students in Gaza. Through Facebook, he tells live stories and helps support creative educational initiatives. His verse stories have been performed at festivals such as Ledbury, Wells, and Hay, and Washington D.C.’s Folger Theatre.

Oswald, who is married to poet Alice Oswald, has three children and has also written a play, “The Prisoners’ Easter”, for prisoners at HMP Channings Wood, where he directed and performed with the inmates.