Central Library
201 W Mifflin St, Madison
7:00 pm
The first “One Book, Many Communities” event of 2016 will take place next month, focusing on Palestinian architect-humorist-scholar Suad Amiry’s Sharon and My Mother-in-Law.
The “One Book, Many Communities” project, coordinated by Librarians and Archivists with Palestine (LAP), is a book club that violates boundaries and borders. It launched in January 2015 with Susan Abulhawa’s Mornings in Jenin.
According to LAP’s Melissa Morrone, the project draws inspiration from “One Book, One Town” initiatives, where people in local communities come together to read and discuss a common book. By contrast, “One Book, Many Communities” is shared across many communities.
Amiry is an internationally recognized author and winner of Italy’s Nonino Prize for Promoting Peace. She has several funny books under her belt, including Golda Slept Here, Nothing to Lose But Your Life: An 18-Hour Journey with Murad, and her popular Sharon and My Mother-in-law.
From the review by Sarah Statz:
Anyone who’s ever dealt with senior citizens or in-laws, even if they haven’t had to do it under military occupation, will recognize and appreciate the brilliance of those [final] six pages. Amiry tells a personal story, using personal forms of communication, but she also provides flashes of the universal. Pretty impressive stuff, and entirely what one would expect from a woman who got through a Jerusalem checkpoint by flashing her dog’s passport and informing a soldier that “I am the driver of this Jerusalem dog.”
Sponsored by the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project (MRSCP) and Peregrine Forum. For more information contact rafahsistercity [at] yahoo com.