Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
No escape from refugees
Israeli author and psychologist Ayelet Gundar-Goshen caused quite a stir with her first novel, One Night, Markovitch. She was honored with numerous awards, including the prestigious Sapir Prize for the best debut in Israel; the book is currently being filmed by the BBC under the direction of Oscar winner Susanne Bier.
At the festival, Ayelet Gundar-Goshen will present her latest novel, Waking Lions, a madcap story about guilt and forgiveness in contemporary Israel: a neurosurgeon runs over an illegal immigrant. There are no witnesses, and the man is going to die anyway - so why jeopardize his career and report the accident? But the next day, the victim's wife shows up on the doctor's doorstep and makes him a proposal that completely upends his orderly life.
"At a time when hundreds of refugees are perishing off Europe's coast and the bodies of the deceased are sometimes stored in garbage bags like slaughterhouse waste, we need such courageous novels as Waking lions" (FAZ).
The conversation will be in English.
The subsequent reading with Shumona Sinha is included in the ticket.