Processing: How Hannah Lillith Assadi Wrote Paradiso 17

Author photo by Jordan LedyProcessing is Counter Craft’s semi-regular interview series where I talk to authors about the craft and writing process behind their work. You can find previous entries here.This week, I’m excited to be talking to Hannah Lillith Assadi about her moving, resonant, and all-around excellent new novel Paradiso 17. The book was inspired by the life of her late father, a Palestinian refugee from the Nakba. Like her father, the character Sufien moves around the world still longing for home, eventually coming to America, marrying a Jewish woman, having a daughter, and settling in Arizona. The novel spans a life, from young childhood to old age. It’s a book that is haunted by grief and exile, but also one that is suffused with the fullness of life. There is sadness and love and humor and dreams and everything in between. You can read more about it here.I spoke with Assadi over email—she graciously took time to answer these questions as she is (as she notes below) in…