Arts Event

Ottawa, May 2018 - Former Ottawa resident and media spokesperson for the Council of Canadians, Leila Marshy is of Palestinian-Newfoundland heritage; she can tell a good joke, but it bombs… Marshy is looking forward to the Ottawa launch of her new book, The Philistine, at Octopus Books on Wednesday, May 16. Marshy founded the Friends of Hutchison Street, a ground-breaking community group bringing Hasidic and non-Hasidic neighbours together in dialogue. She has published stories and poetry in Canadian and American journals and anthologies. Marshy lives in Montreal and is delighted to be back in Ottawa (where she also spent her formative years) with The Philistine, her first novel.


About The Philistine: Nadia Eid doesn't know it yet, but she's about to change her life. It's the end of the ‘80s and she hasn't seen her Palestinian father since he left Canada years ago to take a job in Egypt, promising to bring her with him. Now she's twenty-five and impulsively decamps to Cairo only to find that his situation is more than she bargained for. Along the way she meets Manal, a young artist who becomes first her guide, then her lover. Through this unexpected relationship, Nadia rediscovers her roots, her language and her ambitions, and as her father demonstrates, the unavoidable destiny of becoming a Philistine—the Arabic word for Palestinian. With Manal's career poised to take off and her father's secret life revealed, the First Intifada erupts across the border. Watch the trailer at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJVlflhPfHM