How does literature help us understand trauma and recovery in Arab cultures?
What insights can Arab women’s fiction offer about the connection between personal and collective trauma?
In this episode, we sit down with Layla Al Ammar, a writer and academic from Kuwait. With a master’s in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh and a doctorate focusing on Arab women's fiction and literary trauma theory, Layla brings a unique perspective to the conversation. Her debut novel, The Pact We Made, was longlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award, and her second novel, Silence is a Sense, which explores the daily trauma of a Syrian refugee in the UK, was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing.
Layla and I discuss her deep interest in trauma, memory, and recovery, emphasizing how Arab literature reveals crucial links between individual and collective trauma. We trace these issues back to a ‘stunted’ nahda—Arab enlightenment—and highlight the challenges posed by a shared Arab psychic wound and the absence of authentic psychological studies in the region.
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This episode is sponsored by Paradise Fold, the silk hair wrap company. Listeners get a special discount on all products with the code TCT12
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