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This event was made possible with the support of the Institut Français in London.

Meet the author Karim Kattan

Palestinian author Karim Kattanwas born in 1989 in Jerusalem and grew up in Bethlehem.

The Palace on the Higher Hill, his first novel, won the 2021 Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie, and his most recent novel, L’Eden à l’aube, was shortlisted for the 2024 Prix Renaudot.

Karim joins us for a presentation of The Palace on the Higher Hill, translated for the first time into English.

In beautiful, angry prose, he introduces us to an intimate Palestine of the imagination where dreams and nightmares are in constant conflict. With hints of One Hundred Years of Solitude and Brideshead Revisited, he gives a nuanced deeply moving vision of the tragedy of war and a picture of his homeland that feels entirely new to English-speaking readers.

Winner of the 2021 Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie

Palestinian author Karim Kattan was born in 1989 in Jerusalem and grew up in Bethlehem.

His 2017 short-story collection Préliminaires pour un verger futur was a finalist for the Prix Boccace. The Palace on the Higher Hill, his first novel, won the 2021 Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie, and his most recent novel, L’Eden à l’aube, was shortlisted for the 2024 Prix Renaudot.

Karim joins us for The Palace on the Higher Hill, translated for the first time into English.

This event was made possible with the support of the Institut Français in London.

Hear from Palestinian author KARIM KATTAN as he discusses his award-winning novel of imagination & return THE PALACE ON THE HIGHER HILL.

This event was made possible with the support of the Institut Français in London.

EBB welcomes Palestinian novelist Karim Kattan to discuss his novel, The Palace on the Higher Hill (Foundry Editions), translated from the French by Jeffrey Zuckerman, in conversation with Alice Guthrie.

This event was made possible with the support of the Institut Français in London.

On The Palace on the Higher Hill

Karim Kattan will be discussing his novel The Palace on the Higher Hill, which won the 2021 Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie and has now been translated into English by Jeffrey Zuckerman. It follows a young man who returns to the village of his birth in Palestine after receiving a letter about the death of an aunt he cannot remember. Join us to hear him speak to Anbara Salam on Wednesday 7th May. Tickets £5 including a glass of wine or soft drink. This event was made possible with the support of the Institut Français in London.

Meet Palestinian author Karim Kattan as he delves into his haunting novel of exile, memory, homecoming, and loss, The Palace on the Higher Hill. Originally published in French in 2021, the novel follows Faysal’s return to his family’s abandoned home in Palestine, where he confronts the ghosts of both personal and political pasts. Winner of the 2021 Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie, his novel offers an intimate, politically charged portrait of displacement, echoing One Hundred Years of Solitude and Brideshead Revisited.

He will be in conversation with Will Forrester, Head of Literature Programmes at English PEN.