David Leser: Light Sleeper

Join us for an evening with journalist and author David Leser, as he talks about his new book, 'Light Sleeper'. WHEN: Tuesday, 24th of November, at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore. Please arrive at 6:45 pm for a prompt 7 pm start. The event concludes at 8:30 pm, after the book signing. TICKETS: Admission: $25.00 (excluding external fees). Includes admission for one to the event and a wine (or beverage) upon arrival. Admission + Book: $55.00 (excluding external fees). Includes admission for one to the event, a copy of Light Sleeper (RRP: $36.99), and a wine (or beverage) upon arrival. For half a century, David Leser has wrestled with the question at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: how can two peoples, bound to the same land by history, memory and grief, ever find a way to live together? Part memoir, part reckoning, Light Sleeper begins in Gaza on the eve of the first intifada and unfolds into a personal journey through war, family history, identity and conscience. The son of a German-Jewish father who fled the Nazis and a mother whose Jewish-Latvian family was exterminated in the Holocaust, Leser - a lifelong supporter of both Israeli and Palestinian rights to safety, security and self-determination - confronts the moral and emotional fault lines exposed by October 7, and the devastating assault on Gaza that followed. Can a person stand with both Israelis and Palestinians without betraying either? Is criticism of Israel a moral duty, or a dangerous abandonment of one’s own people? How do trauma, fear and history shape what we are able, or not prepared to see? And what happens when the search for truth costs friendships, certainty and belonging? Passionate, courageous and profoundly humane, Light Sleeper is not a book that asks readers to agree. It asks them to think, to question, and to sit with uncomfortable truths. It asks how might we expand our empathy in an age that demands certainty and the choosing of sides. What happens when the story you were raised to believe collides with the reality you can no longer ignore? About the Author: David Leser is an Australian journalist, author, interviewer and keynote speaker. He was born in Montreal, Canada and grew up in Sydney. In his 47 year-career, David has been a Middle East and Washington D.C correspondent, as well as feature writer for the Australian, HQ magazine, the Bulletin, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Melbourne Age, the Australian Women’s Weekly and Good Weekend magazine. He is the recipient of several awards for his journalism, including two Walkley Awards, About Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore Rated as one of the top 10 bookstores in the world by National Geographic, Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore is an oasis for writers, readers, and coffee lovers. Books overflow from the shelves of their store, featuring a mix of new, second-hand, antiquarian and rare books. Stay a while & enjoy some homemade chai, and amazing coffee, and unearth a book treasure or two. Read more about the bookstore's story here, and about the real Gertrude & Alice here. "This is a book of inner rending and tearing: it will hack at the numbed, bewildered heart." - Helen Garner