About

Join us for a thought-provoking conversation with authors Ibtisam Azem and Samrat Upadhyay. Azem presents The Book of Disappearance, a haunting novel that imagines the sudden vanishing of Palestinians from Israel, opening questions of memory, erasure, and identity. Her narrative blends the surreal with the political, inviting readers to confront histories of displacement. Alongside her, Upadhyay shares Darkmotherland, a gripping exploration of Nepal on the brink of civil war, where personal lives unravel against a backdrop of national turmoil. These two exceptional works examine how individuals navigate upheaval, loss, and belonging, offering a powerful dialogue on literature’s role in making sense of fractured worlds.

The Book of Disappearance

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Darkmotherland

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Ibtisam Azem

Ibtisam Azem is a Palestinian novelist, short story writer, and journalist based in New York. She has published two novels in Arabic: The Sleep Thief (2011) and The Book of Disappearance (2014).

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Credit A. Fathi

Samrat Upadhyay

Samrat Upadhyay was born and raised in Nepal. He is author of the novels The City Son, The Guru of Love (a New York Times Notable Book), and Buddha’s Orphans, as well as the story collections Mad Country, The Royal Ghosts, and Arresting God in Kathmandu.

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Credit Daniel Pickett