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All times are based on US EDT - 12 Noon, 7:00 PM in Palestine.

Join us for a conversation with Palestinian-Egyptian-Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah about her book “Where the Streets Had a Name.” She will also read selected passages from the book.

About the Author

Randa Abdel-Fattah is a prominent Palestinian Egyptian Muslim writer, former lawyer, Palestinian advocate and Islamophobia scholar. She is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Sociology at Macquarie University researching the generational impact of the war on terror on Muslim and non-Muslim youth. Randa's books include Islamophobia and Everyday Multiculturalism (2018), the co-edited anthology Arab, Australian, Other: Stories on Race and Identity and Coming of Age in the War on Terror (2021).  

Randa is also the multi-award-winning author of 11 novels published in over 20 countries including multiple translations, stage productions in the US and Australia, and a graphic novel series. Randa has been nominated for Sweden's 2019 and 2018 Astrid Lindgren Award, the world's biggest children's and young adult literature award. Her multi-award winning children’s novel, Where the Streets Had A Name, set in Palestine, won the Middle East Outreach Council (MEOC) USA Young adult book of the year 2011, is on the Australian national curriculum, was in New York Library’s Top 100 books and was adapted as a play by Australia’s leading children’s theatre company and performed in front of Australian schools. Randa is currently working on the screen adaptation of her novel, Does My Head Look Big In This? 

About the Book

Hayaat and her family used to own a beautiful olive farm. Her father worked hard and loved the olive grove. She and her siblings played happily and her mother was incredibly creative.

But everything changed drastically one day when they received a demolition notice from the Israeli army. Since then, Hyaat and her family have been living in a tiny apartment in Bethlehem.
Her two little brothers, a sulking father, nagging mother, talkative grandmother, and wedding-fevered sister are all packed into a few rooms, sometimes for days at a time when a curfew is issued by the Israeli Army.

Her new home, school, and shops are situated behind a huge impenetrable wall that divides the West Bank. Unfortunately, Hayaat and her family are on the wrong side of the wall.

When Hayaat's beloved grandmother becomes ill and expresses her urge to feel the soil of her home once more before she dies, Hayaat and her friend Sammy set off on the adventure of their lives.

Battling roadblocks, dealing with gun-toting and intimidating soldiers, Hayaat and Sammy must travel only a few miles, but find themselves in an entirely different world.

Author, Randa Abdel-Fattah deals with loss, friendship, family, war, and an extremely delicate political subject with grace, humour, and truth. Readers are sure to be submersed right from the beginning of the book. They will feel sadness, happiness, and the dusty road that Hayaat and Sammy are travelling on.