Evil Eye by Etaf Rum, the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of A Woman Is No Man, examines the expectations and strictures placed on a daughter of immigrants in contemporary America.

Yara hoped to escape the confines of growing up in a conservative Palestinian community, but despite her education and a job she loves teaching art at a local college, her mother-in-law never fails to remind her that her primary duties are as a wife and mother. When Yara is placed on probation for calling out a colleague for racism, her mother shares that a curse once placed on their family could account for the troubles she’s facing, Yara scoffs at the old-world superstition of the Evil Eye, but the revelation compels her to examine her strict, hardship-filled childhood and the way her unresolved past affects the present.

Rum will be in conversation with Maryam Obaidullah Baig, the Marketing and Special Events Director at Human Rights Initiative of North Texas.