An Evening with Nussaibah Younis

About the show

Join us for an evening with Nussaibah Younis and Bryony Gordon to discuss Nussaibah’s Women’s Prize Shortlisted book, Fundamentally.

Nadia is an academic who’s been dumped by her girlfriend and disowned by her puritanical mother. Instead of going to therapy, she decides to accept a UN job rehabilitating ISIS women in Iraq. Sara is a sweary East Londoner who joined ISIS at just fifteen. Nadia feels inexplicably drawn to her and, as it turns out, they have a lot in common. That is, until a secret confession from Sara threatens everything Nadia has been working for.

A bitingly original, wildly funny and wickedly sharp debut, Fundamentally upends a defining controversy of our age with heart, complexity and humour.

Dr Nussaibah Younis is a peacebuilding practitioner and a globally recognised expert on contemporary Iraq. For several years, she advised the Iraqi government on proposed programs to de-radicalise women affiliated with ISIS. She studied at Oxford, Durham and Harvard Universities, and has a PhD in International Affairs. Dr Younis was a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC, where she directed the Task Force on the Future of Iraq. She was born in the UK to an Iraqi father and a Pakistani mother, and currently lives in London.

Bryony Gordon is an award-winning journalist, author and mental health campaigner. She is the writer of six Sunday Times Bestselling books, including Mad Girl, Mad Woman, and You Got This.