Minor Detail: a reading group on Palestinian fiction

THIS EVENT IS IN-PERSON ONLY

Please note that we have a restricted number of copies of Minor Detail reserved for participants of this reading group. Once you've booked your slot, you can purchase a copy in the shop, or contact us to have it sent to you.

The reading group will be held in a space accessible via a flight of stairs. If your access needs do not allow for this, please let us know in advance and we'll adjust our plans accordingly.

An award ceremony for Palestinian author Adania Shibli's novel Minor Detail (Fitzcarraldo, 2020, trans. by Elisabeth Jacquette) was cancelled at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October, amid Israel's war in Gaza. In this group we'll discuss our responses to Shibli's novel, one of the most important and widely-read works of Palestinian literature of recent times.

We'll think about what Minor Detail tells us about the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict, about Palestinian life under occupation, and about the role of literature in wartime. There's no need to know anything about Palestine/Israel, but we do ask that you read the book in advance (it's short!).

The reading group will be hosted by Hannah Boast, Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and author of the book Hydrofictions: Water, Power and Politics in Israeli and Palestinian Literature.

Read Hannah's article on Minor Detail published in The Conversation.