{"product_id":"conversation-balsam-karam-and-saskia-vogel","title":"Conversation: Balsam Karam and Nathalie Olah","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003eMonday 20th April 2026\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003e6.30 to 9pm\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003eWe are so delighted to welcome back Balsam Karam and Nathalie Olah for a conversation about Balsam's newly translated novel \u003ci\u003eEvent Horizon, translated by \u003c\/i\u003eSaskia Vogel\u003ci\u003e,\u003c\/i\u003e precursor to her incredible English language debut \u003ci\u003eThe Singularity\u003c\/i\u003e (2024).   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003eSeventeen-year-old Milde is from the Outskirts, a place beyond the mountains where the dirt is corpse-rich, where mothers and daughters, banished from society, make their living – without rights, access to care, or legal status. But Milde refuses to accept the order of things and, together with some friends, she revolts against the government’s injustice. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003eArrested, imprisoned, and tortured, Milde is eventually presented with a final choice: to be executed publicly or, as part of an experiment, to be launched into space, into a black hole called the Mass. She chooses the Mass, opting to face its fathomless depth and loneliness rather than hurt the morale of her weary allies back home.  Collapsing and expanding myth and reality, Event Horizon is an exquisite existential novel, dark as deep space, woven with reflections on oppression, solidarity, trauma and loss.  ‘Karam is a terrific prose stylist. Many of her sentences are surprising in their syntactical innovation and unique poetic rhythm. Like Virginia Woolf, Karam is interested in fragments, and in how they can fit and flow together.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003ePraise for\u003ci\u003e The Singularity....\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003eThere is a choral quality to her writing, and a rich philosophical undertow to many of her observations…. \u003ci\u003eThe Singularity\u003c\/i\u003e sweeps us along, offering profound wisdoms on motherhood and migration, war, home and grief.’\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003eYagnishsing Dawoor, Times Literary Supplement \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003e‘\u003ci\u003eThe Singularity\u003c\/i\u003e, the second novel (and first to be published in English) by Balsam Karam … is evidence of the unique genius of human creativity…. Language is at the heart of \u003ci\u003eThe Singularity\u003c\/i\u003e, moving as it does from chaos and cacophony to the simple purity of a single voice, which is one measure of its brilliance and its beauty.’\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003eJohn Self, Observer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003eAbout the Author \u0026amp; Translator\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003eBalsam Karam \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003e(b. 1983) is of Kurdish ancestry and has lived in Sweden since she was a young child. She is an author, librarian and university lecturer, and made her literary debut in 2018 with the critically acclaimed \u003ci\u003eEvent Horizon\u003c\/i\u003e, which was shortlisted for the Katapult Prize. Her second novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Singularity\u003c\/i\u003e, was shortlisted for the August Prize and was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in 2024.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003eNathalie Olah\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;\"\u003e is the author of three works of cultural criticism, \u003ci\u003eSteal as much as you can \u003c\/i\u003e(Repeater 2019), \u003ci\u003eLook Again: Class \u003c\/i\u003e(Tate Publishing) and \u003ci\u003eBad Taste \u003c\/i\u003e(Dialogue 2023). She regularly contributes text for major gallery exhibitions and her art writing has been published in \u003ci\u003eThe TLS, Art Review, The Guardian, Tate Etc. \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eTribune. \u003c\/i\u003eShe is currently based in London.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Burley Fisher Books ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56449535902073,"sku":null,"price":6.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0405\/3385\/2310\/files\/Event_Horizon.png?v=1767626511","url":"https:\/\/burleyfisherbooks.com\/products\/conversation-balsam-karam-and-saskia-vogel","provider":"Burley Fisher Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}