Nathan Thrall’s “A Day in the Life of Abed Salama” – A Book Talk with Rebecca Stein

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Join us for a book talk with 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner Nathan Thrall as he discusses his latest book, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama, in conversation with Duke Professor Rebecca Stein. There will be a book signing, with books available for purchase from The Regulator Bookshop.

Book Description: Milad is five years old and excited for his school trip to a theme park on the outskirts of Jerusalem, but tragedy awaits: his bus is involved in a horrific accident. His father, Abed, rushes to the chaotic site, only to find Milad has already been taken away. Abed sets off on a journey to learn Milad's fate, navigating a maze of physical, emotional, and bureaucratic obstacles he must face as a Palestinian.

Interwoven with Abed's odyssey are the stories of Jewish and Palestinian characters whose lives and pasts unexpectedly converge: a kindergarten teacher and a mechanic who rescue children from the burning bus; an Israeli army commander and a Palestinian official who confront the aftermath at the scene of the crash; a settler paramedic; ultra-Orthodox emergency service workers; and two mothers who each hope to claim one severely injured boy.

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama is a deeply immersive, stunningly detailed portrait of life in Israel and Palestine, and an illumination of the reality of one of the most contested places on earth.

Speakers:
Nathan Thrall is also the author of The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine. A Day in the Life of Abed Salama was the winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. His writing has appeared in the London Review of Books, Guardian, New York Review of Books, and The New York Times Magazine and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He spent a decade at the International Crisis Group, where he was Director of the Arab-Israeli Project, and has taught at Bard College, New York. He lives in Jerusalem.

Rebecca Stein is Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Duke University and the author and/or editor of 5 books on Israel/Palestine.