October 26: Ghost Season by Fatin Abbas
October 26, ONLINE
12pm New York | 5pm London | 6pm Khartoum
#TheSudanSyllabus
Join the book club and meet the author. Friendly discussion about the novel Ghost Season by Fatin Abbas is part of Sudan Syllabus programming and will be hosted by Bhakti Shringarpure. We are coming together to learn, study and engage with Sudan’s history and culture and to understand the devastating ongoing conflict.
Buy the book
The novel is widely available in different formats. See here to purchase your copy.
About the book
A dynamic, beautifully orchestrated debut novel connecting five characters caught in the crosshairs of conflict on the Sudanese border. A mysterious burnt corpse appears one morning in Saraaya, a remote border town between northern and southern Sudan. For five strangers on an NGO compound, the discovery foreshadows trouble to come. South Sudanese translator William connects the corpse to the sudden disappearance of cook Layla, a northern nomad with whom he’s fallen in love. Meanwhile, Sudanese American filmmaker Dena struggles to connect to her unfamiliar homeland, and white midwestern aid worker Alex finds his plans thwarted by a changing climate and looming civil war. Dancing between the adults is Mustafa, a clever, endearing twelve-year-old, whose schemes to rise out of poverty set off cataclysmic events on the compound. Amid the paradoxes of identity, art, humanitarian aid, and a territory riven by conflict, William, Layla, Dena, Alex, and Mustafa must forge bonds stronger than blood or identity. Weaving a sweeping history of the breakup of Sudan into the lives of these captivating characters, Fatin Abbas explores the porous and perilous nature of borders—whether they be national, ethnic, or religious—and the profound consequences for those who cross them.
About the author
Fatin Abbas was born in Khartoum, Sudan and has spent her youth in New York. Her debut novel Ghost Season was published in 2023 and critics write that Abbas has "mastered the courage to dive deep into Sudan’s wounds and taboos" and that "the stories of civilians in the grip of uncertainty make for a haunting account and a daring debut." Abbas has written essays, reviews and reports for international media such as The Nation, Open Democracy, African Arguments, Africa is a Country, Bidoun, Le Monde Diplomatique, Die Zeit and Kulturaustausch. After obtaining her PhD in Comparative Literature at Harvard University, she has taught fiction writing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at Pratt Institute in the U.S., and Comparative Literature at Bard College in Berlin, Germany.
About the host
Bhakti Shringarpure is the co-founder and creative director of the Radical Books Collective.
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