Entertainment · Books & Arts · 4 hrs ago
Karim Kattan explores love and violence in a Palestinian gay love story
Palestinian writer Karim Kattan’s novel “Eden at Dawn” follows two men who fall in love in Palestine.
The story unfolds under Israeli occupation and combines political realism with fable, eroticism and supernatural elements.
Kattan grew up in Bethlehem and has lived in Paris since he was 18.
He says being gay and Palestinian shaped how he writes about violence, which can enter people’s lives through both political repression and rejection of their sexuality.
In the novel, a Palestinian gay character is assaulted by an Israeli soldier at a military checkpoint, while also feeling desire for him.
Kattan says the scene is fictional, though he has experienced similar situations.
The book holds love, desire and violence together rather than treating them as opposites.
It also draws on the Bible and other creation stories, reflecting Kattan’s upbringing in a Palestinian Arab Catholic family.
Palestinian writer Karim Kattan’s novel *El Edén al alba* tells of two men falling in love in a Palestine marked by occupation violence.
Kattan says the book explores how love and violence can coexist, drawing on experiences connected to being gay and Palestinian.
The novel includes a scene in which Isaac is assaulted by an Israeli soldier at a military checkpoint because he is Palestinian and gay.
Kattan says the scene is not autobiographical, though he has experienced similar situations many times.
The novel draws on biblical and Mesopotamian creation stories and the Song of Songs.
- Who
- Karim Kattan, a Palestinian writer who lives in Paris.
- What
- His novel *El Edén al alba* depicts two men falling in love in Palestine amid the violence of occupation.
- When
- The interview was published on November 10, 2026. The novel is described as recent.
- Where
- The novel is set in Palestine. Kattan was interviewed in Paris.
- Why
- Kattan says he wanted to explore the coexistence of love and violence and contradictory feelings in the experiences of gay people and Palestinians.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
This story does not have a timeline yet.
- Writer
- Karim Kattan
- Novel
- *El Edén al alba*
- Setting
- Palestine under occupation
- Characters
- Isaac and Gabriel
- Publication date of interview
- November 10, 2026
- Background
- Kattan has lived in Paris since age 18
What people are saying
That is very much part of the gay experience and gay literature.
We discover our sexuality in a context marked by insult and rejection.
That violence paralyzes you and stays with you.
I am interested in that uncomfortable mixture, the coexistence of contradictory feelings, characteristic of people in that situation.