Books as Breath: Gaza’s Living Story
Salah and Abdullah’s small bookshop in Nuseirat is a testament to the power of literature. A model of Palestinian endurance.
Gaza
Shrinking Language, Bursting Memory
“Under siege, time is stolen piece by piece, and language shrinks to match the narrow space it is allowed. People abandon long sentences because every additional word must justify the power it consumes, the battery it drains, the risk it takes in that particular minute.”
‘Rewaa, My Beloved…’: New Poetry by Asmaa Dwaima
Three months ago, ArabLit contributor Asmaa Dwaima lost her sister, who was martyred along with her little son. This poem is for her sister, Rewaa.
‘Reaching Heba in My Dreams’
It was October 20, 2023 when poet, novelist, and educator Heba Abu Nada was killed by an Israeli airstrike. She was 32. Here, her sister Somaia strings together time, place, and memory.
‘A City Beyond History’: New Poetry by Doha Kahlout
“Press your body to the sea— / it comes out cool, unharmed— / and let tears move across your hidden grief.”
I Want a Room, God. Do You Hear Me?
“Even writing, even a warm home—I am afraid of losing them at any moment, of becoming homeless again, of searching for a language that resembles me.”
On Waiting for Things That Won’t Come
“Seductive Life, don’t disguise yourself. We know you too well. We see you in the airports, embracing the newborns and the newdeads. You carry their pain and plant bewilderment inside them. “
‘I Don’t Start from Zero— I Return to It’: New Poetry by Fatena Abu Mostafa
Last week, we ran Fatena Abu Mostafa’s “A Life That Doesn’t Know How to Live”; this week, we have another poem that opens: “I’m not okay / but I say it politely, / so no one thinks I’m asking for help.”
‘A Life That Doesn’t Know How to Live’: New Poetry by Fatena Abu Mostafa
In this poem, by Fatena Mostafa, the narrator endures, “not out of strength, / but because even collapse has grown dull.”