Join Tareq Baconi in conversation with Bill Ayers about his new book Fire in Every Direction, a memoir of political and queer awakening, of impossible love amidst generations of displacement, and what it means to return home. One of LitHub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2025, Fire in Every Direction is an account of finding oneself through histories of dispossession and reclaiming what has been silenced.   

**We ask that all in-person attendees wear masks in the event space during the program for the health and well-being of the speakers and other guests. We will have a reception afterwards with light refreshments and books available for purchase.**

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Speakers:

Tareq Baconi is a Palestinian writer, scholar, and activist. He is the grandson of refugees from Jerusalem and Haifa and grew up between Amman and Beirut. His work has appeared in, among others, The New York Times and The Baffler, and he contributes essays to The New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books. He has also written for film; his award-winning BFI short One Like Him, a queer love story set in Jordan, screened in over thirty festivals. He is the author of Hamas Contained: A History of Palestinian Resistance, which was shortlisted for the Palestine Book Award, and Fire in Every Direction.

Bill Ayers is an educator, organizer and author of numerous books including When Freedom is the Question Abolition is the Answer: Reflections on Collective Liberation (Beacon Press) and Demand the Impossible! A Radical Manifesto (Haymarket Books).

This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books and Pilsen Community Books.