#palestinian writers

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ADL Campaigns to Get susan abulhawa's Books Banned

As genocide continues in Gaza, the pro-Israel lobby in the US is stepping up its campaign against Palestinian cultural expression in the West. Now, the Anti-Defamation League, one of the world’s most influential anti-Palestinian hate groups, is demanding a major publisher drop susan abulhawa, a leading Palestinian novelist. Earlier in August, one of Simon & Schuster’s subsidiaries announced it would republish two of abulhawa’s novels. Since then the lobby has piled on the pressure to cancel the books, claiming the author has used “anti-Semitic rhetoric.” Being a bestselling novelist has never stopped abulhawa from speaking out against the oppression of her people. She visited Gaza towards the start of the genocide, and has written essays and reports from on the ground for The Electronic Intifada. [...]She expressed her frustration with “the idea that Palestine is going to be liberated on manners while Israel is conducting an extermination campaign” as “beyond belief.” “My words are not the atrocity,” she said. “Genocide is the atrocity and I will continue to speak as I do, regardless of what the cost is, because I want people to be emboldened to not hold back anymore.” “I have my words. I have language. I am a writer. And that’s all. That’s the only power I can wield, and if it hurts their feelings, then that’s all the better.”

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I wasn't sure what else I should use this blog for but I know know. I want to use it to promote the writing of Palestinian authors. There is such a concentrated effort to dehumanise Palestinians right now and ignore their perspectives. We need to listen.

Dispatches from Palestine

In its fifty years AGNI has worked to “bring our readers into the living moment, not as tourists, but as engaged participants.” As we expres

"Having stepped beyond Gaza’s borders, I’m compelled to narrate the haunting tale of a night that unfolded months ago, on the 9th of October, when the war unleashed its relentless fury upon us, marking the day we saw death sixty-four times. Abassan—a once calm, rural haven—was marred by chaos. Amid the shattered glass windows, our collapsed kitchen roof, and the second floor strewn with debris, I sought solace in a hobby of mine—vlogging—to document the challenges we faced. We laughed into the lens, and I asked my family members for their last messages in case we succumbed that night. Survival was uncertain, and laughter merely masked our fear. I wondered if that night was the pinnacle of horror or merely a precursor of more terrifying nights to come."

"I had been filming the night, and I kept the camera rolling, documenting every moment in case the worst happened. My earnest desire was to unveil the inhumane reality we endured, a reality no human should be subjected to. Throughout the night, darkness enveloped us, amplifying our apprehensions—we avoided light for fear of attracting the drones that were buzzing all night, a chilling addition to our already profound fear of losing sight of each other in the obscurity."

Rahaf R. Abuzarifa, writer January 9, 2024, writing from Cairo, Egypt In the Shadow of That Night

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Dispatches from Palestine

In its fifty years AGNI has worked to “bring our readers into the living moment, not as tourists, but as engaged participants.” As we expres

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The Language of Survival and Resistance: A Review of Shereen Malherbe’s Yassini Girls, by Zeynep Alp

“With greater confidence and depth, Malherbe’s storytelling feels more assured, nuanced, and mature, reflecting her evolution as a writer.”

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"She's demanding and particular and forthright, and I love her for these things but I can't always live up to them."

- from "You Exist Too Much" by Zaina Arafat

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"It is a bizarre and unsettling feeling, to exist in a liminal state between two realms, unable to attain full access to one or the other."

- from "You Exist Too Much" by Zaina Arafat

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Pursuing the Unattainable: A Conversation with Zaina Arafat - The Rumpus

Zaina Arafat discusses her debut novel, YOU EXIST TOO MUCH.

"Then I started to think of the question in terms of being Palestinian, and in terms of culture, and identity. As a Palestinian you exist in a space of constant longing for statehood and self-determination."

"Being a part of a diaspora can often feel like being a part of nothing. You are neither this nor that. It would be one thing to be Arab and living in the Middle East, or to be American and live in the United States, but to be both can be painful because you always feel called to the other."