‘Meet the writer : Iman Mersal & Adania Shibli’

Language exists not only in words, but also in silence and time. This is all the more palpable in the case of writers who do not live in their home country, but live in a language other than the language of their books. Iman Mersal from Egypt lives in Canada, Adania Shibli from Palestine in Germany; both write in Arabic. What does that mean for their writing? Mersal and Shibli discuss the relationship between language and being at home, silence and time. They also commemorate the legendary Palestinian writer Edward Said, known for works such as Orientalism and Out of Place, who passed away 20 years ago this autumn. 
Adania Shibli was born in Palestine, received her PhD in London and lives in Berlin. She has published three novels in Arabic, of which Minor Detail was translated into English.
Iman Mersal wrote several books including How to Mend: Motherhood and Its Ghosts and The Threshold. A selection of her poems have been translated into English. She is a professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of Alberta, Canada.

Moderated by: ​​​​​​​Brigitte Herremans