When: Friday, 18. June 2010 18.30
To: Friday, 18. June 2010
Where: London, Waterstones, 11 Islington Green, N1 2XH
Contact: Kim Ward (kim.ward@islington.gov.uk / 020 7527 7134)
More info: www.englishpen.org/events/penevents/writersinexile/
Atiq Rahimi was born in Afghanistan in 1962 and fled to France in 1984. There he has made a name as a writer, film and documentary maker. He won the Prix Goncourt for The Patience Stone, in which a woman speaks uncensored to her comatose husband; through her story, Rahimi confronts female oppression in his native Afghanistan.
Eli Amir was born in Baghdad in 1937 and emigrated to Israel in 1950. A prize-winning author, he is also a social activist. Eli will be reading from his novel The Dove Flyer which explores the experience of Jews living in Baghdad in the early 1950s before nearly 120,000 left for Israel.
What are the artistic implications for writers living in exile? How is their work informed by the experience of leaving behind a homeland and, in some cases, a language? How do writers use the literature and culture of one country to understand and contribute to that of another?
This event is free. To reserve a place, please contact Kim Ward on 020 7527 7134 or kim.ward@islington.gov.uk
This is a partnership event with Islington Council, Halban Publishers and Chatto & Windus.
