Jaipur Literature Festival: Devika Rege on Quarterlife with Nermeen Shaikh; Izzeldin Abuelaish on I Shall Not Hate with Mohit Satyanand

Wednesday, 5:00 pm EDT - 6:45 pm EDT September 11, 2024

The Center for Fiction
& Livestreamed

5–5:45pm ET
Devika Rege on Quarterlife in Conversation with Nermeen Shaikh

Devika Rege’s acclaimed debut novel, Quarterlife, is a reflective narrative about India’s political pulse and changing value systems. Following a mosaic of characters amidst a shifting socio-political landscape, it offers a thoughtful exploration of identity and the dynamics of societal transformation. In conversation with journalist Nermeen Shaikh, Rege discusses the book’s themes and its resonance with contemporary Indian society.

6–6:45pm ET
Izzeldin Abuelaish on I Shall Not Hate with Mohit Satyanand

An intense session that examines the tragic consequences of a world at war with itself, and the antidotes to destructive hatred through love, peace and harmony. Izzeldin Abuelaish is the author of the powerful and devastating memoir, I Shall Not Hate, which stands witness to his personal tragedies. A Palestinian-Canadian physician and an internationally recognised humanitarian, human rights and inspirational peace activist, he has dedicated his life to using health as a vehicle for peace, and, despite all odds, succeeded, aided by a great determination of spirit, strong faith, and a stalwart belief in hope and family. Entrepreneur Mohit Satyanand joins Abuelaish in conversation.

Presented in partnership with the Jaipur Literature Festival.

Featuring

Devika Rege

Devika Rege

Devika Rege’s debut novel Quarterlife is a political bildungsroman set in a time of rising Hindu nationalism. It was hailed as ‘a landmark novel’ by The Indian Express and a best book of the year by over a dozen publications on its release in South Asia. It also won the Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Award and the Ramnath Goenka Sahitya Samman for Best Fiction, and was a finalist for the Atta Galatta Prize and Kalinga Literary Award. It will be published in the USA and elsewhere in 2024.
Izzeldin Abuelaish

Izzeldin Abuelaish

Izzeldin Abuelaish is a Palestinian Canadian physician and renowned human rights and peace activist dedicated to advancing health and education for women and girls in the Middle East. Born in Jabalia Refugee Camp in Gaza, he overcame immense hardships, including poverty, violence, and the tragic loss of his three daughters and niece in the 2009 Gaza War, followed by the murder of 21 family members on October 31. Known as the “Martin Luther King of the Middle East,” he has been nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize. His autobiography, I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity, published in 2010 and available in 23 languages, chronicles his loss and transformation and underscores his commitment to forgiveness and peace. He founded the Canadian charity Daughters for Life, which supports young women in pursuing higher education. Abuelaish currently resides in Toronto and is a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
Nermeen Shaikh

Nermeen Shaikh

Nermeen Shaikh is a co-host and senior producer at the independent television news hour Democracy Now! based in New York City. She is the author of The Present as History: Critical Perspectives on Global Power published by Columbia University Press. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Nobel Women’s Initiative and regularly speaks and writes on issues ranging from global politics and film to psychoanalysis and literature. She was previously the Managing Editor at Asia Society and has worked in development and research organizations in London, Islamabad, and Tehran. She has a B.A. (Honours) from Queen’s University and an M.Phil. in politics from Cambridge University.
Mohit Satyanand

Mohit Satyanand

Mohit Satyanand is an entrepreneur, investor, and theatre worker. He is Chairman and co-founder of Teamwork Arts, and mentor to several start-ups. Mountain-lover, life-long trekker, and long-distance swimmer, he also writes a weekly newsletter called Gimme Mo.

Featured Books

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Quarterlife

By Devika Rege

Published by W. W. Norton

PURCHASE

“In the fashion of the big novels by Salman Rushdie or Amitav Ghosh” (Biblio), Quarterlife is a groundbreaking portrait of a nation on the cusp of a new age. When the Bharat Party comes to power after a divisive election, Naren, a jaded Wall Street consultant, is lured home to Mumbai. With him is Amanda, a restless New Englander eager to embody her ideals through a teaching fellowship in a Muslim-majority slum. Meanwhile, Naren’s charismatic brother Rohit, an amateur filmmaker, sets out to explore his roots and befriends the fiery young men of the Hindu nationalist machine. Their journeys lead them into an astonishing milieu of brutal debates and infatuations as fraught as they are addictive, feeding into a festive night when all of Mumbai is on the streets—where the simmering unrest erupts. Hailed as “a landmark novel” (Indian Express), Quarterlife is a brilliantly innovative work that tests the limits of what the novel can achieve.
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I Shall Not Hate

By Izzeldin Abuelaish

Published by Bloomsbury USA

PURCHASE

A Harvard-trained Palestinian doctor who was born and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and “who has devoted his life to medicine and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians” (New York Times), Abuelaish has been crossing the lines in the sand that divide Israelis and Palestinians for most of his life—as a physician who treats patients on both sides of the line, as a humanitarian who sees the need for improved health and education for women as the way forward in the Middle East. And, most recently, as the father whose daughters were killed by Israeli soldiers on January 16, 2009, during Israel’s incursion into the Gaza Strip. His response to this tragedy made news and won him humanitarian awards around the world.

Instead of seeking revenge or sinking into hatred, Abuelaish called for the people in the region to start talking to each other. His deepest hope is that his daughters will be “the last sacrifice on the road to peace between Palestinians and Israelis.”

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