Explore: Tharik Hussain on Minarets in the Mountains

Habitats & Heritage is delighted to be speaking to the author, travel writer and journalist, Tharik Hussain, about his new book Minarets in the Mountains, as part of 2021 Richmond Literature Festival.

Nominated for the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction, Minarets in the Mountains is a magical, eye-opening account of a journey into a Europe that rarely makes the news and is in danger of being erased altogether. Another Europe. A Europe few people believe exists and many wish didn’t. Muslim Europe. The book follows Tharik’s journey with his wife and young daughters around the Western Balkans, home to the largest indigenous Muslim population in Europe, and explores a region where Islam has shaped places and people for more than half a millennium. Encountering blonde-haired, blue-eyed Muslims, visiting mystical Islamic lodges clinging to the side of mountains, and praying in mosques older than the Sistine Chapel, he paints a picture of a hidden Muslim Europe, a vibrant place with a breathtaking history, spellbinding culture and unique identity.

Minarets in the Mountains, the first non-fiction account by a Muslim writer on this subject, also explores the historical roots of the current tide of Islamophobia. Tharik and his family learn lessons about themselves and their own identity as Britons, Europeans, and Muslims.

This talk forms part of Habitats & Heritage’s project Burton: Exploring Without Boundaries, which marks the bicentenary of Victorian explorer, author, diplomat and translator Sir Richard Burton. Habitats & Heritage is raising funds to conserve his spectacular Grade II* listed mausoleum shaped like a tent. We are also leading a wider project that focuses on encouraging people to explore their local neighbourhoods through a series of events and partnerships. Find out more about Burton and our project to conserve his spectacular mausoleum.

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The talk will take place in the Coach House at Orleans House Gallery. The Gallery is hosting an exhibition featuring new work inspired by the collection of Sir Richard Burton. For more information on the exhibition and the collection please visit: www.orleanshousegallery.org/