“I was talking about time. It’s so hard for me to believe in it. Some things go. Pass on. Some things just stay.” Toni Morrison, Beloved
Seventeen-year-old Milde is from the Outskirts, a place beyond the mountains where the dirt is corpse-rich, where mothers and daughters, banished from society, make their living without rights, access to care or legal status. But Milde refuses to accept the order of things and, together with two friends, she revolts against the government’s injustice. Milde is presented with a stark choice: a public execution, or participation in an experimental mission that will send her into space, into a black hole known as the Mass. She chooses the Mass, opting to face its fathomless depth and loneliness rather than hurt the morale of her community.
Balsam Karam is of Kurdish ancestry and has lived in Sweden since she was a young child. She is an author, librarian and university lecturer who made her literary debut in 2018 with Event Horizon , which went on to be shortlisted for the Katapult Prize. Her first English-language publication, The Singularity , was shortlisted for the August Prize.
In conversation with author Wendy Erskine.