Reel Festivals Literary Coordinator Ryan Van Winkle, Reader in Residence at the Scottish Poetry Library, widely published poet and compere of Scotland’s premier literary event, The Golden Hour, shares his Top Five Reel Festival Moments so far in order of awesomeness:

Warning: This post was written after a long day of preparing for the start of Reel Festivals – rushing around Beirut, flyering, forgetting to eat, and drinking too much. It is not necessarily intended to make sense.

1. Drinking a fine yet dusty bottle of Sophiia Katchichism wine with drunken fishermen in the Phoenician port of Sour. It was my first night in Lebanon and a perfect place to get our heads together and plan the Beirut leg of Reel Festivals. Some say Southern Lebanon is going bananas – I say Southern Lebanon is growing bananas!

2. A visit to Mleeta (the Hizbollah museum, sub-title “where the heaven meets the sky”) during an incredible and almost Scottish haar. A surprisingly tongue in cheek look at the vanquishing of the ‘Zionist entity’.

3. Eating a falafel in the old town of Saida with the poet Mazen Maarouf. I drank something dodgy but… didn’t get a dodgy tummy. In my book that counts as victory. The journalist and poet Mr Maarouf has done some investigating and claims that falafel was invented by the Palestinians and only arrived in Lebanon after 1948.

4. Our first night in Beirut – totally thrilled to see Reel Festivals posters hanging around the streets of Hamra! Totally disappointed to discover them covered over by the next morning. Fascinating to learn that the Poster Mafia is an international concept. These guys are faster than the EAE (for all your aggressive poster hanging needs). But – we ordered 1,500 extra posters and hired the fastest bill sticker-er in the West (Beirut).

5. Checking out our Lebanese partner organization Hibr’s new building – reminds me of Middle Forest – there’s a lot of work to do there and a lot of good times to be had. I hope we have time to help hose the place down and – maybe – even do a talk about The Forest Collective. Also, we found some really cool 70s coat hangers. Possibly the best we’ve ever seen. Seriously, you be the judge. Also – I love the names of these juices! Which one is your favorite?

Ryan will be compering the Golden Hour on Tuesday 10th May, where he will also be reading along with Emily Ballou, Tom Pow and other very fine poets. He will also be appearing at Crossing Borders, Bearing Witness on Wednesday 11th May both in Saifi Urban Gardens, Beirut.