Telling Middle Eastern Lives: A Panel Event

Join us for a hybrid event featuring Professor Marilyn Booth (University of Oxford), Professor Sonja Mejcher-Atassi (American University of Beirut), and Dr Peter Hill (Northumbria University). They will discuss the value of life-writing as an approach to Middle Eastern history and literature, asking:

What are the rewards and challenges of telling individual Middle Eastern lives?
The conversation will draw on the speakers’ recent books, which all use biography in unique ways:

Marilyn Booth, The Career and Communities of Zaynab Fawwaz: Feminist Thinking in Fin-de-siècle Egypt (2021)
This book examines the life of Zaynab Fawwaz, a feminist pioneer in 19th-century Egypt. Booth explores Fawwaz’s contributions to literature, journalism, and theatre, showing how her life illuminates gendered struggles and broader societal movements.

Sonja Mejcher-Atassi, An Impossible Friendship: Group Portrait, Jerusalem Before and After 1948 (2024)
This collective biography highlights the intertwined lives of intellectuals, artists, and writers in Jerusalem during and after World War II. It offers a personal perspective on historical upheavals, including the Nakba and the formation of Israel.

Peter Hill, Prophet of Reason: Science, Religion and the Origins of the Modern Middle East (2024)
Hill traces the life of Mikha’il Mishaqa, a Lebanese intellectual, to explore the intersections of science, religion, and modernity in the 19th-century Arab world.

About the Speakers
Professor Marilyn Booth
Marilyn Booth is Emerita Al Saud Professor for the Study of the Contemporary Arab World at the University of Oxford. She specializes in 19th-century Arab women’s writing, gender ideologies, and feminist history. Her works include The Career and Communities of Zaynab Fawwaz and Classes of Ladies of Cloistered Spaces.

Professor Sonja Mejcher-Atassi
Sonja Mejcher-Atassi is Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature at the American University of Beirut. Her expertise spans modern Arabic literature, art, and cultural history. Her latest book, An Impossible Friendship, examines intellectual and artistic life in Jerusalem during the postwar period.

Professor Peter Hill
Peter Hill is Associate Professor of History at Northumbria University. His research focuses on 19th-century Arab history, political thought, and religion. His works include Utopia and Civilisation in the Arab Nahda and Prophet of Reason.