Writer and translator Jenan Alhamli has put together a special section — with interview, excerpt, and review — to celebrate the 2021 release of Eman Assad’s debut novel, No Sun in the Closed Room, an exploration of Kuwaiti-Palestinian identity and belonging set in late summer, 1991.
“And oh, he was so ready to see the look on his uncle’s face once he realized his magic wand had betrayed him.”
“Our identity was wholly attached [to our father’s], and a new duty was put in place, whereby you needed to express your loyalty to Kuwait. And how do you do that? By accepting the insulting names your country is called without objection.”
“Eman Assad successfully captures the complexities of this struggle between Kuwaitis and Palestinians, and the lives of the “halfsies”; those who fall in between, not knowing exactly where to land, as they’re being constantly pushed by one group toward the other. Eman doesn’t leave Ghassan in Kuwait’s glowing and beaming September sun; instead, she hints at a return.”
