109: Susan Muaddi Darraj (Behind You Is The Sea)

Charlie and Susan Muaddi Darraj (Behind You Is The Sea) discuss the Palestinian Christian community, her immigrant characters and their children, how she used the current conflict in her stories, and the segregation of the working class in Baltimore, Maryland.

Please note this episode mentions domestic violence.

A transcript is available on my site

Books mentioned by name or extensively:
Lawrence T Brown: The Black Butterfly
Susan Muaddi Darraj: Farah Rocks Fifth Grade
Susan Muaddi Darraj: Farah Rocks Summer Break
Susan Muaddi Darraj: Farah Rocks New Beginnings
Susan Muaddi Darraj: Farah Rocks Florida
Susan Muaddi Darraj: Behind You Is The Sea

Buy the books: UK || USA

Release details: recorded 25th June 2024; published 11th November 2024

Where to find Susan online: Website || Twitter || Instagram

Where to find Charlie online: Website || Twitter || Instagram || TikTok

Discussions

01:49 The initial inspiration for Behind You Is The Sea - Susan's character, Marcus Salameh
05:01 How poetry runs in Susan's family
07:21 The focus on women and women's worth
09:15 Susan's choices in making most of her characters people from one family
10:36 The story Hashtag - including stories of domestic violence and murder - and how the West would see it
16:13 How Susan doesn't want to be 'nice' to her characters
18:37 The different generations and how they relate to one another, and then we move on to discuss a spin-off novel that Susan is writing
23:55 Where the title, Behind You Is The Sea, came from
26:16 How Palestinian Muslims and Palestinian Christians live peacefully together in Palestine
31:13 Segregation in Baltimore
35:53 The way Susan included the current Arab-Israeli conflict in the book
37:35 What's next - Susan's current works in progress, including her work for children

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