An Interview with Bassam Aramin & Rami Elhanan, Co-Directors of the Parents Circle-Family Forum

In 2021, award-winning author Colum McCann released his novel, Apeirogon, which was in part based on the real lives of two fathers, Palestinian Bassam Aramin and Israeli Rami Elhanan. Both men had been raised to hate each other. Both men had lost their daughters. Despite their pain and enormous grief, they somehow found points of connection and were able to carve out space for peace, formed the Parents Circle-Family Forum, and have traveled the world together sharing their message of forgiveness. McCann met Bassam and Rami through his work with the non-profit organization Narrative 4, an empathy-driven organization that builds community through the power of storytelling. Colum McCann, who joins us in person, will be joined virtually by Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan to discuss forgiveness, understanding, and their deep friendships. They will also talk about their work with the Parents Circle-Family Forum and the current climate in Israel and Palestine.

About the Speakers:

Colum McCann is the internationally bestselling author of the novels Apeirogon, TransAtlantic, Let the Great World Spin, Zoli, Dancer, This Side of Brightness, and Songdogs, as well as three critically acclaimed story collections and two nonfiction books, Letters to a Young Writer and American Mother. His fiction has been published in more than forty languages. He has received many honors, including the National Book Award, the International Dublin Literary Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and an Oscar nomination for his short film Everything in This Country Must. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the Irish association of artists Aosdána. He has received a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres Award from the French government, in addition to awards in Italy, Germany, and China. A contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Paris Review, he is the co-founder of the global nonprofit story exchange organization Narrative 4. He lives with his family in New York.