Join the author Raba’i al-Madhoun and translator Elliott Colla for a discussion and bilingual readings, chaired by Rosie Goldsmith.

The Lady from Tel Aviv is a bestseller in the Arab world, and was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2010 and was recipient of an English PEN Writers in Translation award. This new translation brings it to English reading audiences for the first time.

The novel’s protagonists are Palestinian exile Walid Dahman, who is returning home to Gaza after many years in Europe, and Israeli Dana Ahuva, who happens to be sitting next to him on their flight into Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport. Their dialogue takes the reader into the far realms of memory, history and the self. The Lady from Tel Aviv is both a meditation on the nature of fiction and an incisive exploration of the effects of occupation on a people and what it is to be a Palestinian.

Raba’i al-Madhoun was born in Palestine in 1945 and grew up in the Gaza Strip. The author of several literary works, The Lady from Tel Aviv is his first work to be translated into English.

Elliott Colla is a prominent translator of modern Arabic fiction, including novels by Ibrahim al-Koni, Ibrahim Aslan and Idris Ali.

Rosie Goldsmith is a renowned journalist specializing in arts and foreign affairs, and a champion of international literature.

As well as a conversation there will be bilingual readings.

Buy ‘The Lady from Tel Aviv’ here.

FREE, rsvp@mosaicrooms.org

Don’t forget to check our screenings page for forthcoming films at The Mosaic Rooms.