Books & Writers: Novelists, Screenwriters, Poets, Journalists, Playwrights, Non-fiction Writers & Showrunners Talk Writing, Creativity & The Creative Process · Novelists, Screenwriters, Poets, Playwrights, Non-fiction Writers, Journalists & Showrunners Talk Writing - Creative Process Original Series

Why We Need Stories in Times of Crisis: ETGAR KERET on Healing, Connection & Creativity in the Age of AI - Highlights

·19 min·2 clips

Etgar Keret describes the 'universal human feeling' today as being a 'powerless God' who sees atrocities but cannot stop them.

This episode features an interview with Israeli author and filmmaker Etgar Keret, who discusses storytelling as a tool for survival and connection during personal and global crises. Keret, the son of Holocaust survivors, explores how inherited values and current political realities shape his creative and moral worldview. He frames writing as an act of imagining escape and maintaining humanity in oppressive circumstances. Keret describes being "blacklisted" in Israel, where media outlets have called for a boycott of his and David Grossman's books, and he cannot hold public events without being labeled a traitor. Simultaneously, international literary tours in Australia and Edinburgh were canceled solely because he is Israeli, leaving him feeling intolerantly silenced from all sides. He argues we now live in a "one strike, you're out" culture where young people are terrified a single wrong sentence could ruin their lives, creating a climate where "everybody is oppressing everybody." Keret feels a profound sense of futility, comparing himself to a "powerless God" or a "band on the Titanic" playing music to make the sinking more bearable, unable to stop the atrocities of the ongoing war. A pivotal insight is his rejection of the concept of absolute "safe spaces," illustrated by a conversation with a lesbian student; he argues one person's safe space can be another's threatening space, and forcing a single "right way to live" is wrong. Keret warns against reducing people to a single sentence or incident, likening it to a "global road rage" scenario that strips away human complexity and fosters monstrous, inquisitorial judgments. He believes writers have a heightened sensitivity to social "stench," sensing impending disaster like a body in a closet long before it is found. For Keret, the fundamental choice of which personal narrative to believe dictates all other choices, and outsourcing our life's story to external forces is a form of enslavement. He identifies human "obscurity and ambiguity"—the ability to hold contradictory truths—as a key defense against AI, which treats such nuance as a mistake to be corrected. He advocates for forming coalitions based on shared action toward a goal, like stopping violence, rather than fracturing over semantic debates about terms like "genocide" or "ethnic cleansing." In a memorable anecdote, Keret refused to argue politics with a taxi driver unless the debate's outcome would lead to direct, physical action in Gaza, highlighting the emptiness of performative discourse. The tone is profoundly personal, philosophical, and raw, with Keret expressing deep vulnerability and existential fatigue. The style is conversational and reflective, weaving personal history, political critique, and metaphorical storytelling into a cohesive meditation. Listeners interested in the intersection of art, politics, and mental health during wartime will find this episode deeply moving and intellectually rich. Those seeking light entertainment or definitive political solutions may find its bleak honesty and philosophical weight challenging.

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