Love Is An Ex Country: Randa Jarrar discusses fat, queer, muslim womanhood

Hailed as “one of the finest writers of her generation” (Laila Lalami), Jarrar delivers a euphoric and critical, funny and profound memoir.

We are absolutely buzzing at the prospect of welcoming Randa Jarrar to the bookshop (virtually) for what promises to be a hilarious, candid, provocative conversation with the brilliant Afshan D'souza-Lodhi!

Queer. Muslim. Arab American. A proudly Fat woman.

Randa Jarrar is all these things.

In her “viscerally elegant” and “intimately edgy” memoir of a cross-country road trip, she explores how to claim joy in an unraveling and hostile America (Kirkus Reviews).

Already a bookseller favourite, Love Is An Ex Country is a profound memoir that will speak to anyone who has felt erased, asserting: I am here. I am joyful.

Still wondering if this is the book for you? Here's what Carmen Maria Machado had to say:

"If you have ever felt lonely or horny or angry or magnificent; if you have had no country or too many countries or you have left your country behind; if you have spoken truth to power or trusted the wrong people and suffered the consequences; if you have ever gotten in a car and driven across the landscape because you had to: this memoir is for you. What a boon it is, a perfect, unforgettable howl of a book.'"

--

Our Speaker

Randa Jarrar is the author of the forthcoming memoir Love Is An Ex-Country, the novel A Map of Home, and the collection of stories Him, Me, Muhammad Ali. She is also a performer who has recently appeared in Hulu’s RAMY, as well as the short films GOT GAME and FINJAN. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Salon, Bitch, Buzzfeed, and elsewhere. She is a recipient of a Creative Capital Award and an American Book Award, as well as awards and fellowships from the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, Hedgebrook, PEN, and others. A professor of creative writing, Jarrar is Executive Director of RAWI, a literary nonprofit that serves Arab American writers. She lives in Los Angeles.

Our Host

Afshan D’souza-lodhi was born in Dubai and bred in Manchester. She is a writer of plays and poetry, and was recently commissioned to write and direct a short film for Channel 4 (An Act of Terror) and a radio play for BBC Sounds (Chop Chop). afshan has edited many anthologies and has an essay featured in Picador’s collection by Muslim women called Its Not About The Burqa. Her debut poetry collection [re: desire] published by Burning Eye Books seeks to investigate the yearning to love, be loved and belong from desi (South Asian) perspectives. Her most recent play, Santi & Naz, described as “tender yet sharply political” by The Guardian, puts female friendship against the backdrop of the partition of India and Pakistan. Through light and humorous touches, the piece comments upon homosexuality and its recent legalization in India. afshan has completed residencies at Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester LGBT History Month and has worked with Eclipse Theatre, Tamasha Theatre Company and Paul Burston’s Polari.