In conversation with Tamara Zantout, author of Drawing Lines

What books are you reading?
A History of God by Karen Armstrong. It chronicles the history of religion.
What are the books that changed your life?
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. The main character, who is a brilliant architect, has an unyielding sense of integrity. It describes one's true spirit if it were to be untarnished by the impact of society or other people's projected opinions. Also, as I studied architecture myself and have a true passion for it, to read it in the context of a novel is very thrilling.
Most memorable literary character (and why)?
Ivan Karamazov of The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky, for his passion and desire to save humanity.
A book you think is underrated?
I don't know if we can call Season of Migration to the North an underrated book, I'm sure it is quite well-known. Other than describing the underlying effects of colonial imperialism and kitschy notions of orientalism, there is also a beautiful scene in the desert where I discovered the word 'wanderlust' for the first time. It was a book I had to read in university as part of a course but I fell in love with it anyway.
Favourite literary quote?
"That you are here - that life exists and identity. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse." - Walt Whitman.
As I read French existentialist authors like Albert Camus and André Malraux and Jean-Paul Sartre, this verse by Whitman, though not of the same literary circle, struck a chord. It describes so much passion and emotion all at once. It is about resilience and an unyielding thirst for life.
- Staff reporter