NATALIE AMIRI

Literature LIVE book premiere "The Middle East Complex. Of people, dreams and destruction"

Natalie Amiri and Constantin Schreiber in conversation

For her new book, the award-winning author traveled to Syria a few days after the fall of the Assad regime and met people who are breathing a sigh of relief for the moment. Like in Lebanon, which could be able to act politically for the first time following the massive weakening of Hezbollah. Her journey continues to Israel, where she talks to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, among others, who tells her that "the soul of the country" is being destroyed by Netanyahu's egotism. In the occupied West Bank, where more and more land is being taken from Palestinians in the shadow of the Gaza war, she meets Basel Adra, Oscar winner of the documentary "No other land", among others. Adra, who together with his Israeli co-author documents the violence of radical Jewish settlers against Palestinians, is now even more threatened by them than before.

She talks to families from Gaza, where international journalists have had no access since the start of the war. She talks about her bewilderment that the world has been watching this war for two years. She meets Israeli relatives of hostages who have been killed, travels to Kurdish women who are holding the line against IS in Kobane - and the son of Marwan Barghouti, whose significance for the Palestinians is compared to that of Nelson Mandela for South Africa.

"The Middle East Complex" will be published by Penguin on October 8, 2025, 256 pages