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Selma Dabbagh and Elisa Díaz Castelo talk to Gaby Wood

Literary Pairs: The Past Inside the Present

Hay Festival 2026, 

Can the past live inside us, even if we have no knowledge of it? British-Palestinian author Selma Dabbagh and Mexican poet, author and translator Elisa Díaz Castelo discuss violence, collective trauma and literary inspiration, led by the chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, Gaby Wood.

Dabbagh’s writing explores the themes of idealism (however futile), placelessness and political engagement (or lack thereof). Castelo writes on intergenerational history and considers how the pasts that live inside us – including those we have no knowledge of – affect the present.

Selma Dabbagh and Elisa Díaz Castelo talk to Gaby Wood