Full Circle Book Club
hosted by Eleonora Balsano

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
by Kiran Desai

Culture | Thurs 17th Sept | 7:00-8:30 pm

Monthly meet up to discuss a great read, along with drinks & good company.

*Doors open at 6.30pm. The book club begins at 7pm.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kiran Desai is an Indian writer and the bestselling author of three novels, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard and The Inheritance of Loss, which won both the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is her latest work of fiction, shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize. The judges described the novel as an epic of love and family, spanning generations and countries, that is the most "ambitious and accomplished" work by Desai. Born in India, she moved to the US when she was sixteen and now lives in New York City. In January 2015, The Economic Times listed her as one of 20 most influential global Indian women.

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ADDITIONAL INFO 

FOOD & DRINK	EVENT SIZE	ACCESS
Bar open with snacks	Small (~10)	Available on request

Book Launch / Sat 19th Sept / 5-7 pm

As a Palestinian woman who grew up in Israel, Eva Dalak's personal story is woven with the collective wounds of conflict, displacement, and inherited pain. Her memoir of transformation, Dancing in the Dark, is an exceptional, powerful journey through loss, identity and the reclamation of light in the face of darkness.

Eva does not just share a testimony of survival, but a profound exploration of healing. As she even lost her vision for two years, she had to navigate physical blindness alongside the unseen landscapes of trauma, belonging and ancestral memory. With honesty and poetic grace, she traces her path from disorientation to clarity, from fragmentation to wholeness.

She also introduces her Peace Activation framework, through which she weaves trauma-informed practices, intergenerational dialogue and embodied resilience into a new way forward - for individuals as well as for communities and nations caught in cycles of violence.

What if the reason we struggle to create lasting peace isn't what we think? What if our most well-crafted peace agreements fail not because we lack good intentions, but because we're missing something fundamental? Come hear Eva's powerful testimony of awakening, begin to see with new eyes and discover how to activate peace as a lived experience.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eva Dalak is an Israeli Palestinian peacebuilder and peace activator with over 25 years of experience in conflict transformation. She is the founder of Peace Activation and co-founder of One Whole Peace, both soul-centred peace movements in Palestine and Israel bringing citizens of different faiths together in conflict transformation. She is passionate about activating peace, promoting gender equality, interfaith dialogue, and empowering communities to build peace from within. As a skilled conflict transformation facilitator, peacebuilding trainer, and gender advisor, Eva has amassed experience in over 22 countries in conflict zones across Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. She is committed to promoting individual soul-centred leadership and radical responsibility through innovative and entrepreneurial initiatives. 

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