Rabih Alameddine: The Wrong End of the Telescope

‘To write about the human condition is political; it’s one of the greatest political acts. Art has never been apolitical.’

Rabih Alameddine is no stranger to making people uncomfortable. Across six critically-acclaimed novels, the Dos Passos Prize-winner has depicted sex with a nun, put Tom Cruise in dialogue with Eleanor Roosevelt, and personified Death as someone who wears a black beret and savours misery like fine wine. But while Alameddine favours the provocative and unconventional, these elements of his writing are never without purpose. His funny, beautiful and radical works shake us out of apathy and into empathy, forcing readers to confront stories and characters the world is often content to overlook.

Alameddine’s latest novel, The Wrong End of the Telescope, explores an Arab American trans woman’s experience among Syrian refugees on Lesbos island. At the Moria refugee camp in Greece, Mina is the closest she’s been to her family in Lebanon since she transitioned. Alienated from her family, Mina longs to accomplish something meaningful. This is a story about connection, dislocation and the limits and endurance of the human drive to ‘rescue’, all told through the sly wit of Alameddine and his heroine Mina. 

Join Alameddine for a digital conversation about his remarkable career and this deft and timely new novel, hosted by poet Omar Sakr.

The online bookseller for this event is Hill of Content

This event takes place online and is available on demand from Thursday 28 October 6.30pm AEDT, until Thursday 4 November 6.30pm AEDT.

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