About our Guests
Karim Kattan
Karim Kattan is a Palestinian writer born in Jerusalem in 1989. He holds a doctorate in comparative literature and has established himself as a distinctive literary voice, weaving fiction, memory, and political reckoning into his work. His debut, Préliminaires pour un verger futur (2017), was followed by his first novel, Le Palais des deux collines (Éditions Elyzad), which won the prestigious Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie in 2021. Shortlisted for the 2024 Prix Renaudot and a finalist for the 2024 Prix de la littérature arabe, his latest book, L’Eden à l’aube, has won the 2024 Prix international Rotary – Pen Club and the 2024 Prix littéraire du 2e roman de Laval.
Will Forrester
Will Forrester is Head of Literature Programmes at English PEN. He edited All Walls Collapse: Stories of Separation (2022), led the editorial team for My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women (2022), and has been a judge for the TA First Translation Prize and the US National Translation Award. He is also a Director of Untold Narratives and an Independent Expert for Creative Europe. His writing has appeared in the Guardian, Los Angeles Review of Books, London Magazine, and elsewhere
