"The first step toward real peace must be to get to know the other side, its culture and creativity." --Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet


Journalist Runo Isakson, confronting the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, found himself wondering: How can literature play a role in helping the one side to see the other? To answer this question, he interviewed fifteen pre-eminent Israeli and Palestinian writers, asking them what role literature may play in creating dialogue, ending war, building peace. The conversations that result are both deeply personal and deeply political, both reflective and urgent; they both complicate and clarify our understanding of the Israeli¬-Palestinian conflict.


The collection includes interviews with acclaimed Israeli writers David Grossman and Amos Oz ("In a conflict, few people are capable of imagining other people's suffering"). Palestinian novelist Sahar Khalifeh discusses feminism, literature, and occupation. Poet Mahmoud Darwish and novelist Izzat Ghazzawi appear together, discussing how "knowledge about the other is an obligation." These dialogues transcend national boundaries and the narrow language of conflict and invite readers around the world to take a first step toward peace.


Authors interviewed include: Etgar Keret * David Grossman * Yoram Kaniuk * Amos Oz * Meir Shalev * Orly Castel-Bloom * Dorit Rabinyan * Mahmoud Shuqair * Ghassan Zaqtan * Liana Badr * Zakariyya Muhammad * Yahya Yakhlif * Sahar Khalifeh * Mahmoud Darwish * Izzat Ghazzawi * Salman Natour *