This was a nostalgic session on a vanished multicultural Middle East, fragrant Cairo and vibrant Baghdad, where Jews lived in peace with their Muslim neighbours in a Babel of languages. With stories of sudden hatred, bloody destruction and, ultimately, uprooting and exile, Lagnado remembers her Egyptian father and his American nightmare; Mira Rocca, her Iraqi mother, Violette Shamash.

Raja Shehadeh’s uncle fled the Ottoman police, his family lost their prosperous home by the sea when Israel was created, his father was murdered and his everyday pleasure of walking in the hills around Ramallah is often ruined by checkpoints and barriers. He spoke to Jo Glanville about life under the occupation, the limits of politics and the power of the pen.