Murjana: A Novel of Medieval BaghdadInfo Location More Info Event Information
DescriptionWednesday 7 May, 17.00-19.00 Author Ghada Karmi discusses her new novel Murjana, which is set in ninth-century Baghdad, with historian Hugh Kennedy.
While there is no fee to attend this event, we do require that you register for it to reserve your place.
Event Location
More InformationGhada Karmi will discuss her new book Murjana, a novel set at the Abbasid court in ninth-century Baghdad. A sensual thriller about a caliph’s infatuation with a young woman, Murjana is extremely historically evocative, depicting romantic and political intrigues in their civilizational context and engaging with contemporary trends and debates in Islamic arts and sciences from architecture to medicine to theology. Additional insights will come from historian Hugh Kennedy, who will reflect on the legacy of al-Maʾmun, the caliph on whom the novel’s chief protagonist is based.
Ghada Karmi is a doctor of medicine by training and a specialist in the history of medieval Islamic medicine, a background that enabled her to draw on authentic sources when researching the novel. She has held a number of academic posts in Middle East history and politics, most recently at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK. She has published six books to date, including two memoirs of life in Palestine.
Hugh Kennedy (FBA) is Professor of Arabic at SOAS University of London, where he teaches Islamic history. His numerous publications include The Caliphate: A Pelican Introduction (2016) and The Court of the Caliphs: When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World (2005).
The event will be chaired by Marlé Hammond, Reader in Arabic Popular Literature and Culture at SOAS University of London. | ||||||||||||||||
