Lamisse Hamouda: "The Shape of Dust"

In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, memoirist Lamisse Hamouda chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting The Shape of Dust. Lamisse co-authored this deeply disturbing account with her father Hazem Hamouda. It chronicles Hazem’s wrongful arrest in Egypt and Lamisse’s desperate 443-day struggle to free him from Tora, one of Egypt’s most notorious prisons. The Shape of Dust won the 2024 National Biography Award.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

• The meaning of the book’s title The Shape of Dust


• Why Lamisse and Hazem decided to craft The Shape of Dust when it risked triggering the horrific trauma of their experiences


• Why Lamisse framed the story around trauma


• How Lamisse navigated multiple languages, cultures and worlds while crafting The Shape of Dust


• Why Lamisse structured the book in three parts, with Part One comprising first-person accounts of what happened day by day, with Lamisse and Hazem taking it in turns to narrate their experiences


• Lamisse’s literary choices to reduce the terror and brutality of Hazem’s experiences for them as the authors and their readers


• Lamisse’s ethical decisions on which aspects of Hazem’s story to share


• The extent to which Lamisse self-censored her commentary about Egyptian and Australian politics; Australia’s consular services in Egypt; and Australian journalists


• How writing The Shape of Dust has changed Lamisse’s perception of colonisation and systemic racism in Australia.