Book Club: Discipline by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Censorship of Palestinian voices coupled with institutional cowardice and complicity in Zionism may be some of the themes Randa Abdel-Fattah explores in Discipline - but she never envisioned she would experience surreal parallels in her real life after the book was published. In this new episode of The New Arab Book Club, host Elias Jahshan sits down with the acclaimed author, lawyer, and Palestinian advocate to discuss her new novel, which marks her first foray into adult literary fiction after 20 years of publishing teen and young adult fiction, children’s books, and also non-fiction. Set in Sydney against the backdrop of escalating Israeli aggression in Gaza in 2021, Discipline follows two Arab diaspora characters navigating the worlds of academia and mainstream media, and explores the price we all pay when those with privilege remain silent. Initially published in Australia in 2025, it’s now available globally and has already garnered widespread praise - including a spot on the shortlist for the 2026 Miles Franklin Award, Australia’s most prestigious literary prize. In this wide-ranging interview, Randa Abdel-Fattah opens up about making global headlines after her invitation to the 2026 Adelaide Writers' Week was rescinded over her stance on Palestine—a decision that sparked a solidarity boycott campaign from Australian Indigenous authors and international names like Zadie Smith, Percival Everett, and Yanis Varoufakis, ultimately forcing the festival's cancellation. Randa also delves into the relentless targeting she has faced from mainstream media, the emotional process of writing and editing Discipline while witnessing a live-streamed genocide in Gaza, and interrogates those who call themselves "progressive" but stop short in Palestine. Randa Abdel-Fattah is an Palestinian-Egyptian lawyer, human rights advocate, and multi-award-winning author from Australia. She teaches at Macquarie University in Sydney, holding a PhD in Sociology with research focused on Islamophobia, race, youth identity, and Arab/Muslim social movements in Australia. She is also the author of 12 books, including Where The Streets Had a Name, Coming of Age in the War on Terror, and her groundbreaking 2005 debut Does My Head Look Big in This? Discipline is out now: Australia via University of Queensland Press: https://www.uqp.com.au/books/discipline Globally via Oneworld Publications: https://oneworld-publications.com/wor... --- Elias Jahshan is a journalist and social media manager at The New Arab. He is also a writer who has been published in various media outlets and anthologies, and is the editor of the groundbreaking books This Arab Is Queer (2022) and This Queer Arab Family (2025), both published by Saqi Books and available worldwide: This Arab Is Queer: https://saqibooks.com/books/saqi/this... This Queer Arab Family: https://saqibooks.com/books/saqi/this...