Randa Abdel-Fattah’s Discipline

The Final Draft podcast is all about books, writing and literary culture. We're dedicated to exploring Australian writing, looking into the issues that drive our storytelling to discover more from the books you love. These are the stories that make us who we are. Randa Abdel-Fattah is a researcher whose writing covers Islamophobia, race, Palestine, and social movement activism. Her books include Coming of Age in the War on Terror, When Michael met Mina, and 11 Words for Love. Her new novel is Discipline   A high school student, Nabil is arrested for displaying a Hamas flag at a rally demanding Australia stop supplying weapons to Israel. As the media scramble to cover the story, politicians and the authorities work to present themselves as tough on this sort of thing. Hannah, a Palestinian/Australian journalist is confronted with how she can represent her community in reporting the news, whilst still being perceived by her white colleagues as an impartial reporter. Her husband Jamal seeks to use his academic voice to speak up for Palestine but must contend with his more conservative Phd supervisor Ashraf, who is concerned about establishing his own academic credentials free from controversy. Hannah and Jamal are also monitoring their social media helplessly. There are attacks on Palestinians by Israel and they must wait for news of the escalating violence and pray that their families are safe. Final Draft is produced and presented by Andrew Pople Want more great conversations with Australian authors? Discover this and many more conversations on Final Draft every week.