One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This: an evening with Omar el Akkad

£6 early bird places only availble until Feb 5th (£8 thereafter)

"One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is , when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.”

With the return of Trump to the White House, surrounded by billionaires championing fascism and destroying the planet, the need to confront the moral bankruptcy of the west has never been more urgent.

Over the past twenty years, award-winning novelist and journalist Omar el Akkad has been reporting from the ground-zeros of war and social justice issues - from Black Lives Matter protests, to climate change and Wars on Terror. His debut non-fiction book chronicles the author’s realisation, precipitated by the slaughter in Gaza, that much of what the West promises is a lie.

It is a moral grappling with what it means – as a citizen, as a father – to carve out some sense of possibility during these devastating times. This is a book for those that have tired of moral emptiness. This is a book for everyone who wants something better.

“It is difficult to understand the nature of a true rupture while it is still tearing through the fabric of our world. Yet that is precisely what Omar El Akkad has accomplished, putting broken heart and shredded illusions into words with tremendous insight, skill and courage. A unique and urgently needed book”- Naomi Klein

We invite you to join us as we welcome Omar el Akkad to Edinburgh for an evening of essential truths and reckonings, visions and honesty.

To open and close the evening, we're honoured to welcome poets Janette Ayachi and Nada Shawa.

"Omar’s book is riveting in its honesty. I found it to be a brilliant mosaic of heartfelt reflections on the sad state of the world, one that dared to end in hope.” - Raja Shehadeh

In the spirit of solidarity, this event will double as a crowdfunder for Suhail and his family in Gaza. You can find out more and donate to the crowdfunder HERE. A percentage of ticket and book sales will also be donated.

Our speaker:

Omar El Akkad is an author and journalist. He was born in Egypt, grew up in Qatar, moved to Canada as a teenager and now lives in the United States. He is a two-time winner of both the Pacific Northwest Booksellers’ Award and the Oregon Book Award. His books have been translated into 13 languages. His debut novel, American War, was named by the BBC as one of 100 novels that shaped our world.

Watch Omar el Akkad introducing the book here!

Our chair:

Rahul Rao is a postcolonial theorist with interests in the global politics of race, caste, gender and sexuality. He is currently a Reader in International Political Thought at the University of St Andrews. He is the author of Out of Time: The Queer Politics of Postcoloniality (2020) and Third World Protest: Between Home and the World (2010), both published by Oxford University Press. He is a member of the Radical Philosophy editorial collective. Beyond the academy, his writing has appeared in The Caravan and Himal Southasian.

Our guest poets:

Janette Ayachi is a London-born, Edinburgh-based, Scottish-Algerian poet. She graduated with a Combined BA Honours in English Literature & Film Media from Stirling University and an MSc in Creative Writing from Edinburgh University. She’s a regular on BBC Scotland arts programmes and her work has been translated into several languages across a broad range of journals and anthologies. Her debut poetry book 'Hand Over Mouth Music' (Pavilion) won the Saltire Poetry Book of the Year Literary Award 2019 and she is now working on her travel memoir 'Lonerlust'. She collaborates with artists and works with poetry in public places, as well as regularly performing spoken word at festivals and events internationally.

Nada Shawa is a Palestinian writer and dancer who moved from Gaza to Scotland at the age of eight without her family to attend school and receive treatment for her Cerebral Palsy. She made Scotland her home after the deteriorating conditions of the Israeli occupation prevented her from returning. In Scotland, she then worked extensively in the field of refugee support and human rights, including disability rights, helping to bring Palestinian athletes from Gaza to compete in the London 2012 Paralympic Games. She was selected as a dancer to perform at the 2022 Edinburgh International Festival. She has performed her poetry widely and she read at the 2024 Edinburgh International Book Festival. ‘Mending Nets’, created by Nada in collaboration with Janis Mackay, was the opening performance at the International Storytelling Festival and will be performed during the 2025 Festival Fringe.