13 Apr

19:30

Centrale Bibliotheek, DOK B

Spui 68, The Hague

A book club session discussing Muhammad Abdelnabi’s 'In the Spider’s Room', a novel about the infamous Queen Boat affair targeting Egypt’s gay community.

Queer Book Club: In the Spider's Room

More info & tickets

The queer book club is a space where like-minded people come to read and discuss works by queer authors. Whether these works are classics of queer literature, or novels that were recently published, and whether we read stories about coming out, falling in love, or surviving bigotry, at the queer book club there is always space for thoughtful discussions and sharing personal experiences.

Are you looking for a queer space in which you can be yourself and share experiences and stories with others? Are you looking for a place where you can discuss queer literature? Then the queer book club is the place for you.

This Book club will be hosted by Looi van Kessel, assistant professor in literary studies and gender studies at Leiden University, who specializes in LGBTQIA+ literature. The sessions will be held in English.

Book for this session

Muhammad Abdelnabi’s In the Spider’s Room (2016)

Hani was out for an evening stroll near Cairo’s Tahrir Square when a heavy hand landed on his shoulder. An informant had identified him, and he was thrown into the back of a police truck. There began a seven-month nightmare as he was swept up, along with fifty other men, in the infamous Queen Boat affair that targeted Egypt’s gay community. Finally free, but traumatized into speechlessness, Hani writes down the events of his life—his first sexual desires, his relationship with his mother, his marriage of convenience, and his passion for Abdel Aziz, the only man he ever truly loved.