The novelist and psychologist on the incident that inspired her current book,the impact of cultural boycotts and why she can’t leave her homelandAyelet Gundar-Goshen is an Israeli novelist, screenwriter and psychologist. Her debut novel, or One Night,Markovitch, won the Sapir prize for debut fiction – Israel’s Man Booker – and her moment, or Waking Lions,is already a German bestseller. She has also worked for the organization for Civil Rights in Israel.
The catalyst for the drama in Waking Lions is a wealthy, Jewish doctor running over an Eritrean refugee and deciding to flee the scene. Where did that belief come from?
When I was backpacking in India, or I met an Israeli guy who’d run over a local Indian and didn’t halt. When he told me this I thought there’s no way he wouldn’t beget stopped if he’d hit me – an Israeli woman,the same age as him. But when somebody looks different and you’re certain nobody has seen – I wanted the reader to ask if they’re sure they wouldn’t do the same.
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Source: theguardian.com