The Arab British Centre is usually a calm space during the working week. By the evening, its rooms come alive with Durbaka classes and the sound of the oud drifting through the building. But on Monday of the launch of Notes from a Lost Country, the Centre felt different. It was filled with readers, writers, and visitors from different backgrounds, all gathered to hear Sinan Antoon and Dalia Al-Dujaili reflect on Iraq, memory, migration, and the enduring question of home. The diversity of the audience reflected the Arab British Centre’s mission of presenting Arab and Arab British art and culture in the United Kingdom.
That evening, in partnership with Saqi Books, we hosted the book launch of Notes from a Lost Country by Sinan Antoon. Dalia Al-Dujaili, the author of Babylon, Albion: A Personal History of Myth and Migration, led the discussion with Sinan.
Sinan Antoon is an Iraqi-born poet, novelist, essayist, and scholar. He was raised in Baghdad before leaving Iraq for the United States after the 1991 Gulf War.
Dalia is a British-born Iraqi writer, editor, and producer based in London. We also celebrated her memoir, Babylon, Albion, and explored its crossovers with Sarah Al-Sarraj’s Limbs of a Lunar Disc through the 3oubour project.
Sinan and Dalia’s conversation moved between stories of exile, sickness, and homesickness. The two Iraqi writers, from different generations, reflected on Iraq from their own perspectives, while their experiences often overlapped in unexpected ways.
As many of us in the audience grew up in different places but gathered here, the two books reminded us that migration is rarely the first choice; no one leaves their homeland unless they are forced to. Through the two books, we were introduced to different stories and experiences that echoed across generations.
From my point of view as a Palestinian who has lived both in Palestine and elsewhere in Europe, I found that we are united in these moments of homesickness, which can sometimes become a kind of sickness. We all long for the homeland where we first experienced love, safety, and peace. Many of us now find ourselves torn between two places, or even three. Questions of home arise: Is it this country? Is it that one? Or is it myself, my body? Questions of identity arise too. They remain unresolved until, perhaps, we find peace within them.
About the author: Riyad Khouri is a dancer and designer, currently completing an MA in Curating Cultures at SOAS University of London. At the time of writing, he is a Curatorial Intern at the Arab British Centre.