Writer Nur Turkmani launches her debut poetry collection, October, at Salted Books Lisbon. A few weeks ago, Nur sat in the shop and interviewed Saleem Haddad for his new novel, Floodlines, and now they switch seats!

October spans the space between Lebanon’s 2019 revolution and the grim reality of its current crises. Part archive, part love letter, these poems do not look away from the devastation. Instead, they ask what remains after it and what takes root again. Nur writes about the ordinary lives happening inside extraordinary times.

Nur Turkmani is a writer from Beirut. Her work appears in Poetry, New England Review, Copper Nickel, The Rumpus and others. Her debut poetry collection, October, was published by Hajar Press in 2026. She was awarded the Anthony Veasna So Scholarship for fiction from The Adroit Journal.

Saleem Haddad was born in Kuwait City in 1983 to a Lebanese-Palestinian father and an Iraqi-German mother. He is the author of the acclaimed debut Guapa, a 2017 Stonewall Honor Book and the winner of the 2017 Polari Prize, and the novel Floodlines. He is currently based in Lisbon, with roots in Amman, Beirut and London.

Visit the Salted Books website to book a free ticket.