Wednesday 17th September
6.30-9pm
Join us to discuss Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis and Since the World is Ending by Indyana Schneider.
About Fundamentally:
When Nadia Amin, a witty and bighearted PhD, publishes an article on deradicalization, everything changes. The United Nations comes calling with an opportunity to put her theory into practice and lead a rehabilitation program for women caught in the crosshairs of harmful ideology. And why not? Abandoned by her mother and devastated by unrequited love, she leaps at the chance.
In Iraq, Nadia quickly realizes she’s in over her head. The UN is a mess of competing interests, and her team consists of Goody Two-shoes Sherri who never passes up an opportunity to remind Nadia of her objections; and Pierre, a snippy Frenchman who has no qualms about perpetually scrolling through Grindr. But then Nadia meets Sara, a hilarious, foul-mouthed East Londoner who was pulled into radicalism at just fifteen. The two are kindred spirits, and Nadia vows to get Sara home.
As the rehabilitation program picks up traction, Sara reveals a secret that upends everything, forcing Nadia to make a drastic choice. In the fallout, Nadia’s brown-savior fantasies crumble, leaving her to wonder if she can save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.
A fierce, wildly funny, and razor-sharp exploration of radicalism, family, and the quest for belonging, Fundamentally boldly inspects one of the defining controversies of our age and introduces a fearless new voice in contemporary fiction.
About Since the World is Ending:
Maya is living her dream in Vienna. First violinist with the prestigious Habsburg Philharmonic, her days are filled with music, her nights with wild parties and passionate, no-strings-attached sex with her colleague, star cellist Lucia Rizzo.
But when Josh - the ex-love of Maya's life - unexpectedly shows up at her door, the perfect world she's built begins to unravel.
Set over a blisteringly hot weekend in a city where ghosts lurk in every alleyway, Since the World is Ending explores the sacrifices we make and the risks we take when we pour life into our art.
A novel about music, consequence, desire and the importance of love and art in a world on fire by a daring and uniquely compelling young novelist.
Dr. Nussaibah Younis is a peace-building practitioner and a globally recognized expert on contemporary Iraq. She has a PhD in international affairs from Durham University in the UK and a BA in modern history and English from the University of Oxford. Dr. Younis was a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, where she directed the Future of Iraq Task Force and offered strategic advice to US government agencies on Iraq policy. Dr. Younis has published op-eds in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian, and has provided on-air commentary for the BBC and Al Jazeera. She was born in the United Kingdom to an Iraqi father and a Pakistani mother, and currently lives in London.
Indyana Schneider is an international opera singer and novelist from Sydney, Australia. She studied Music at Oxford University and Opera at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hanover, completing her training at the prestigious International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera. Indyana now performs full-time across the UK, Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland and Australia. Between her music studies, Indyana wrote her debut novel, 28 Questions, on the tube while working in development in London's third sector. Her second novel, Since the World is Ending, was drafted in countless airports, train stations, and friends' living rooms as her singing career took her around the world. When not writing or performing, she is a keen and clumsy salsa dancer, a messy cook and a short-distance runner.