Liverpool Arab Arts Festival (LAAF), the longest running annual festival of Arab arts and culture in the UK, returns for its 24th year this July.
World renowned percussionist Simona Abdallah returns to Liverpool at Rough Trade, this time to collaborate with two powerful DJs from the Arab music world. At the Bluecoat, expect cutting edge cinema, with My Father and Qaddafi, as well as a collaboration with Comma Press – launching the latest in their ‘Reading The City’ series, The Book of Damascus. There’s also a debut script reading of the cross-continental comedy 40 Days & 40 Nights at Liverpool’s Royal Court.
LAAF 2026 will provide a platform for artists and audiences to explore the many meanings of ‘home’: whether rooted in place and territory, shaped through family and relationships, or carried through memory, movement, environment, and social or geographic experience.
Here’s a full rundown of all this year’s festival events:
Yemeni Night feat. The Al-Awhadel Band LIVE, St George’s Hall (17 July)
Join LAAF for a celebration of Yemeni music, with the mesmerising Al-Awhadel Band! Centred on the evocative sounds of the oud, the band is led by Yaser Awdhali, an artist and composer from Aden, Yemen.
He began his artistic career in childhood, learning to play the oud at a young age, influenced by his father, the great artist Ahmed Omar Awdhali who had a long and well-known career in the Gulf states. Now Yaser himself has earned the title ‘Artist of the Diaspora!’
Sudanese Culinary Arts and Literature, The Black-E (18 July)
This Sudanese Culinary Arts and Literature event explores the meaning of home through food, art and storytelling, in collaboration with London-based publisher Almas Art Foundation. Centred on the work of British-Sudanese food archivist Omer Al Tijani, the event brings together recipes, oral histories, and cultural narratives that preserve Sudan’s heritage.
The Sudanese Kitchen began as a long-term documentation project and website led by Omer Al Tijani, and developed into a landmark cookbook and cultural archive that collects over 100 recipes, contextual essays, and personal and field photographs to present Sudan’s culinary diversity.
40 Days And 40 Nights: Script in Hand Reading, Liverpool’s Royal Court (18 July)
Inspired by a true story, 40 Days and 40 Nights is a cross-continental comedy of double decker proportions, where a family departs and comes together. As they navigate across Europe and the Middle East, the El Gadhy’s explore their different versions of being Muslim, pioneers, Yemeni and Scouse.
Strap in for the ride of a lifetime and journey from the Mersey to the Middle East with ferries, fights, fun and family. 40 Days and 40 Nights has been developed as a co-creation between Liverpool’s Royal Court and Liverpool Arab Arts Festival. Join them for a script in hand reading to get a first look at this brand new comedy.
A Journey Home: Family Screening and Workshop, Plaza Community Cinema (19 July)
Join Plaza Community Cinema for A Journey Home: Family Film Screening and Workshop, in association with At the Library. A screening of four short animated films centred around the theme of home, told through the perspectives of young characters. This will be followed by a creative workshop. I am from Palestine, Olivia, All Aboard, BAHR
You can also take part in their family creative workshop exploring roots, memory, and belonging through drawing, storytelling, mapping, and traditional Karagoz-inspired shadow puppetry. No art experience needed. Everyone is welcome.
My Father and Qaddafi, Bluecoat (21 July)
This UK premiere of My Father and Qaddafi will take the audience on a raw and reflective journey as Jihan pieces together a father she barely remembers, while discovering the troubled history and politics of Libya. Her journey starts from fading personal memories, leading to encounters with family members, her father’s peers, and historical archive footage.
Hoping at first to uncover the truth, Jihan instead transforms the mystery into a curiosity that brings her closer to her father and her Libyan identity. She approaches politics not as a distant subject, but as a lived experience that penetrates into every human relationship – even between a little girl and her father.
The Book of Damascus, Bluecoat (23 July)
Join Bluecoat for The Book of Damascus, a celebration of storytelling, writing, and critical thinking from the Syrian Capital, in association with Comma Press. The latest instalment in Comma’s ‘Reading the City’ series is filled with the perspectives of ordinary Syrians we never read about in the news – be they teenage boys scheming to raise funds for a longed-for Eid picnic or impoverished girls picking through rubbish dumps hoping to find gold.
LAAF, in association with Comma Press, invite you to join them for an evening of readings, translations and discussions about the challenges that Damascus has survived and what lies ahead for it, in these most precarious times.
Tamsin Elliott & Tarek Elazhary, Liverpool Philharmonic Music Room (24 July)
Liverpool Arab Arts Festival presents the UK premiere performance of the hugely anticipated second album from Tamsin Elliott and Tarek Elazhary.
The album, currently untitled, is scheduled for release in September 2026. Together, Tamsin and Tarek explore the intriguing parallels and idiosyncrasies of Egyptian Maqam and English folk traditions in a captivating fusion of songs, tunes and textures, finding commonality, fostering cross-cultural connection and helping heal the scars of a colonial past through meaningful and conscious collaboration.
In conversation with Simona Abdallah: Finding Freedom Through Art, Rough Trade Liverpool (25 July)
LAAF are partnering with Savera UK for two events at Rough Trade Liverpool. In Conversation with Simona Abdallah will be an afternoon of thought-provoking conversation with the internationally renowned percussionist, intertwined with Simona’s powerful performances on the darbuka, a hand-played traditional percussion instrument.
This will be followed by a night of exhilarating Rhythms and Mixes from Simona and two other powerful musicians of Arab heritage: Palestinian music producer, filmmaker and DJ, Hiba Salameh, and Jordanian sound artist, creative producer and DJ, Yasmeen Soudani.
LAAF Family Day 2026 – Sefton Park Palm House (26 July)
Taking place on the final day of the festival at Liverpool’s Sefton Park Palm House, the long-established LAAF Family Day is a celebratory showcase of Arab arts and culture. The event is ideal for a summer day out with the whole family.
Creating a moment of togetherness and community, Sefton Park’s Palm House will play host to a free afternoon of music, performance and authentic Arab culture, complemented by a range of stalls offering Arabic and Middle Eastern food, arts and crafts, traditional practices such as calligraphy and dance, as well as activities for children, including storytelling and workshops.
To discover even more events happening in the region, visit our What’s On listings.