The English Department at the College of Languages held a workshop titled 'Gabriel Garcia Marquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude : Pre-Industrialization and Modernity' as part of the activities of UHD Book Club on Tuesday 15th  December, 2020. The workshop discussed one of the novels of the well-known Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez which was published in 1967. The novel was discussed in a panel of Dr Maysaa Al-Abas, Mr Saman Mohammed and Ms Lanja Najmaddin.

The panel chose this novel because it tackles important themes relating to patterns of Middle Eastern culture, i.e. family traditions, attitude towards the West, Industrialisation and modern life style, history and how it repeats itself, etc. The panellists focused on the writer of the novel as a Nobel Prize Winner and how his narrative style, the magical realism, was successful in conveying his message. They also emphasised the role of reading in broadening horizons of knowledge and encouraged the students and teachers to contribute to the fruitful discussion afterwards.