Layla AlAmmar is the author of Silence is a Sense, a profound and life-affirming novel that follows a mute Syrian refugee grappling with her experiences during the Syrian Civil War, and as a refugee traveling through Europe as she is gradually and unwillingly drawn into the lives of her neighbors.

“With gut-punching clarity, AlAmmar unpacks the complicated identity of a refugee discovering that safety is not what it seems, as she learns to find her voice in a new home.” - Booklist

Layla AlAmmar is a Kuwaiti-American writer and student of Arab literature, delivering a complex and fluid book about memory, revolution, loss, and safety. AlAmmar’s debut novel, The Pact We Made, was published in 2019. She is currently pursuing a PhD on the intersection of Arab women's fiction and literary trauma theory.

In this episode, we discuss her writing process, and:

• Changing your medium to get un-stuck
• Writing as a repository for thoughts and feelings
• The difficulty in trying to take writing advice
• And more

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This Week’s Writing Prompt

This week’s writing prompt: Take a pivotal scene in your WIP, or a scene that is giving you trouble, and try to rewrite it in several different ways. For example: straight, a dream or nightmare, someone relaying the scene to another person in a letter, or as a hallucination.

Explore Womxn Authors

In this episode, they recommended these womxn writers:

• Adania Shibli, author of Minor Detail
• Han Kang, author of The Vegetarian

Ensure the Podcast Continues

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Check Out More Womxn Authors

• Episode 66: Patricia Engel - Author of Infinite Country
• Epiosde 64: Fan Favorites - Featuring Kim Krans, Brittney Morris, Aja Black, Melissa Valentine, and Rebekah Taussig
• Episode 63: Sonya Renee Taylor - Author of The Body is Not An Apology