Writing in the Hour of Genocide: A conversation between Lena Khalaf Tuffaha and Omar El Akkad

Focus: Moderated by Literary Portland for Palestine, this panel borrows its subtitle from Fargo Tbakhi’s essay “Notes on Craft: Writing in the Hour of Genocide.” The two National Book Award-winning writers will discuss the responsibilities of literature, narrative control, and address vs. silence when writing through and against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. [1, 2, 3]

In the spirit of Palestinian poet Fargo Tbakhi’s essay “Notes on Craft: Writing in the Hour of Genocide,” poet Lena Khalaf Tuffaha and prose-writer Omar El Akkad will speak about the role of the writer, and the powers and limitations of the tools within their respective genres when writing about and against the unfolding genocide. Each of them National Book Award winners for their most recent books, both of which address the genocide in Gaza, we look at questions of audience and address, silence and silencing, narratives and counternarratives, and more. This conversation will be moderated by the host of the Between the Covers podcast, David Naimon.