‘It is hard to think of another book that gives such a poignant, deeply human face to the ongoing tragedy of Palestine. Thrall’s evocation of both a terrible crisis and the daily humiliations of life under occupation is nothing short of heartbreaking.’
— Adam Hochschild

An intimate, heartbreaking story of one tragic day in a never-ending series of tragic days paints an indelibly human portrait of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the lives of those caught in the crossfire. A Day in the Life of Abed Salama tells the story of a deadly accident outside Jerusalem that unravels a tangle of lives, loves, enmities, and histories over the course of one revealing, heartbreaking day.

This heartbreaking story follows Abed as he’s plunged into every parent’s worst nightmare – during a school trip to a theme park on the outskirts of Jerusalem, his five-year-old son Milad is involved in a devastating bus collision. As the children are taken to different hospitals in Jerusalem and the West Bank, Abed sets off on an odyssey to learn Milad’s fate.

What would be a harrowing experience for any parent is compounded by the maze of physical, emotional, and bureaucratic obstacles he must navigate because he is Palestinian – on the wrong side of the separation wall, holding the wrong ID, and carrying the wrong papers to enter the city of Jerusalem.

This deeply human story offers a new understanding of the tragic realities of life in one of the most contested places on earth, made all the more important by recent events.

Nathan Thrall’s writing has appeared in the London Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine & more and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He is also the author of The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine. He spent a decade at the International Crisis Group, where he was Director of the Arab-Israeli Project.

This event will be chaired by Sally Hayden, journalist and the author of My Fourth Time, We Drowned. Sally is also an Irish Times correspondent, reporting across Africa, the Middle East and Europe.