Hannah Lillith Assadi: Paradiso 17

Hannah Lillith Assadi began writing the 2026 Women’s Prize-longlisted Paradiso 17 – a sweeping tale of an exiled Palestinian searching for home – in the final days of her father’s life.

With it, she hoped to disprove a worry he’d whispered on his deathbed: that his life had been wasted.

Hear Assadi speak from the heart about writing through grief to complete her powerful tribute to immigrant tenacity and the connections that endure across continents.

Chaired by Anahit Behrooz.