Ban and backlash create a bestseller: The bestselling Palestinian author talks to Jemimah Steinfeld about why a joke on Yasser Arafat put his life at risk. Also an extract from his latest book, translated into English for the first time
ABBAD YAHYA did not expect the publication of his fourth novel to put his life at risk. But early last year, within just a couple of months of publication, Crime in Ramallah had been banned by the Palestinian Authority. And not just banned – his books were confiscated, his distributor was detained and he received a series of death threats online. The police asked him to come in for questioning. That Yahya, now 29, was out of the country was a small mercy. But a year on, he is still living far from his friends, his family and his wife. Crime in Ramallah narrates the lives of three men (Nour, Rauf and Wissam) caught up in the murder of a woman. Set around 2013, with flashbacks to the Second Intifada (2000-2005), it addresses the social and political changes taking place in Palestine.
