Be a part of a live, interactive conversation with author Susan Abulhawa about her book, Against the Loveless World (on sale August 25, 2020). Written with Susan Abulhawa’s distinctive “richly detailed, beautiful, and resonant” (Publishers Weekly) prose, this powerful novel presents a searing, darkly funny, and wholly unique portrait of a Palestinian woman who refuses to be a victim.

As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison in a country she barely knows. Born in Kuwait in the 70s to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man, raising children, and possibly opening her own beauty salon. Instead, the man she thinks she loves jilts her after a brief marriage, her family teeters on the brink of poverty, she’s forced to prostitute herself, and the US invasion of Iraq makes her a refugee, as her parents had been. After trekking through another temporary home in Jordan, she lands in Palestine, where she finally makes a home, falls in love, and her destiny unfolds under Israeli occupation. Nahr’s subversive humor and moral ambiguity will resonate with fans of My Sister and The Serial Killer.

Susan Abulhawa is a Palestinian-American writer and political activist. She is the author of Mornings in Jenin—translated into 30 languages—and The Blue Between Sky and Water. Born to refugees of the Six Day War of 1967, she moved to the United States as a teenager, graduated in biomedical science, and established a career in medical science. In July 2001, Abulhawa founded Playgrounds for Palestine, a non-governmental children’s organization dedicated to upholding the Right to Play for Palestinian children. She lives in Pennsylvania.

Abulhawa will be in conversation with Zukiswa Wanner, who was born in Zambia, and is an author, journalist, publisher and curator. In addition to fiction for children and adults, she has published reportage, essays and travelogues, which have appeared in international newspapers and magazines. In 2020, Wanner was awarded the Goethe Medal, a yearly prize given by the Goethe-Institut honouring non-Germans "who have performed outstanding service for the German language and for international cultural relations".

Join us for a discussion on sisterhood, exile and home, food, music, and literature.

We invite you to support the author by purchasing a copy of her books from our local independent bookstore, Browseabout Books. Call-in orders are accepted at Browseabout (302-226-2665) or you can stop by the store to purchase a copy. For store hours, please visit the website. Each copy purchased comes with a signed archival bookplate.

NOTE: this meeting is being conducted through Zoom. You MUST REGISTER to receive instructions for joining the meeting.

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Basic written instructions for using Zoom may be found here and a brief video tutorial may be found here.