A conversation with Giller Prize-winning author Omar El Akkad, moderated by Max Porter, on confronting the illusions of the West and imagining a better future.
What happens when the ideals you once held start to crumble? Award-winning journalist and novelist Omar El Akkad, joined by Max Porter, takes the stage to explore his first nonfiction work, the bold and unflinching One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This.
Sparked by his viral tweet during the bombardment of Gaza—viewed over 10 million times—El Akkad lays bare the fractures in the West’s promises of freedom and justice. Drawing on two decades of reporting on the War on Terror, Black Lives Matter protests, and the escalating climate crisis, he reflects on how events like the violence in Gaza have reshaped his understanding of migration, power, and inequality. Once a believer in the West’s ideals, El Akkad now confronts the uncomfortable truths of exclusion and broken systems, weaving urgency with hope to inspire a reimagining of what a just and compassionate world could look like.
