On Thursday, February 15, the English Department hosted award-winning Palestinian writer Suad Amiry on campus to speak particularly to the students of the Department.
Hanadi Soudah Younan, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Chairperson of the English Department, welcomed Amiry to Bethlehem University and expressed the importance of exposing students to authors who are Palestinian in hopes they would be inspired. Paola Handal, instructor at the English Department, then introduced Amiry to the students and gave a brief background about her.
Amiry kept the audience fully engaged and amused throughout her talk. She introduced them to her life as not only a Palestinian telling her narrative to the world but her life as a woman, academic, an architect and a storyteller. Amiry told the students that inspiration sometimes comes at the most unexpected times and our narrative as Palestinians should not always be about tragedy but, one with a human side, of ordinary people who want what everyone wants: a normal life. Her words left a profound impact on many of the students who left so in awe of this charismatic and vibrant individual.
Suad Amiry is a Palestinian conservation architect and writer, and the founder of RIWAQ: Center of Architectural Conservation in Ramallah, Palestine. Her book “Sharon and My Mother-in-Law” has been translated into 19 languages.
