Ep29: Layla AlAmmar on memory, trauma and how stories are told

Today’s guest is one the Gulf’s most noteworthy authors, Layla AlAmmar. Layla has published two internationally acclaimed novels The Pact We Made and Silence Is A Sense, in 2019 and 2021, respectively.
On this episode, we talk about SO much, and Layla shares such insight from a psychological perspective, discussing theories around trauma, memory and the versions of ourselves that we lose. We talk about who dictates how stories are told, why narratives around refugees are forcibly dehumanising, and what trauma does to the mind's ability to make memories.
Set in Kuwait, The Pact We Made revolves around the main character, Dalia, a young Kuwaiti who is pressured to get married by her traditional family as she approaches her 30th birthday, when all she craves is more independence and a life as an art student in the United States. It follows the struggle that emerges within Dalia from living a life that is significantly different from the one she desires, all while she harbors a long-kept secret. The second novel, Silence is a Sense, tells the story of an unnamed Syrian refugee who finds herself mute in her new community after an arduous trip from war-torn Syria to the UK. It follows her journey of making sense of her new surroundings and her place within them, as she writes about her experiences for a British news outlet under the alias, “The Voiceless.”
Layla AlAmmar is a writer and academic from Kuwait. She has a PhD in Arab women's fiction and literary trauma theory.and an MSc in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh. She was the 2018 British Council International Writer in Residence at the Small Wonder Short Story Festival (literature.britishcouncil.org...) . Her debut, THE PACT WE MADE (www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...) , was longlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award. Her second novel, SILENCE IS A SENSE (www.thebookseller.com/news/bo...) (2021) was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing (library.stanford.edu/projects...) . She has written for The Guardian, LitHub, the Times Literary Supplement, ArabLit Quarterly, and The New Arab.
You can find Layla on social media here:
layla_alammar
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