THURSDAY 26th June – 7:30pm
OUTCAST: A History of Leprosy, Humanity & the Modern World
in conversation with
Oliver Basciano & Ismail Einashe
A revelatory history of humanity – spanning thousands of years and ranging across the world – told through the lens of a misunderstood disease.
BOOK HERE
The story of leprosy is the story of humanity.
It is a story of isolation and exclusion, of resilience and resistance, one which has permeated global cultures in myriad ways for thousands of years, dividing the world into the ‘clean’ and the ‘unclean’.
In Basciano’s kaleidoscopic Outcast – he meets those living with leprosy today, those exiled to various leprosaria around the world and forced to find homes away from home; he hears stories of community and perseverance in the face of grave circumstances, of lives bound to each other through shared experience and a refusal to be cast aside.
A work of outstanding empathy, Outcast casts new light on the human condition in the modern world, asking: does a society’s sense of itself always rely on ostracisation?
Oliver will be in conversation with award winning journalist and writer Ismail Einashe whose work has appeared in The Guardian, BBC News, The Sunday Times, Foreign Policy, El Mundo, Internazionale, Frieze, ArtReview, and The Nation, among many others. He’s especially recognised for his coverage of migration and refugee issues, for which he has won multiple awards.
Basciano is a journalist and critic based in São Paulo and London. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, Financial Times, The White Review and Times Literary Supplement – Outcast is his first book.
Tickets are £5 (+ a small booking fee)
Includes admission & refreshment