’48 kg’: Creating Life from a Desire to Diminish and Fade Away
Gaza-based Palestinian writer Husam Maarouf responds to Batool Abu Akleen’s ’48 kg.’
Batool Abu Akleen
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. “
Isn’t It Our Time to Take a Break from Death?
While gasping for breath, I write. While my heart is panting, I count all my organs. Who will delete this wound from memory? Who will draw the hardships from my heart? Who will calm it?
On Batool Abu Akleen’s ’48kg’
As Hilary Plum writes in this review of ’48kg,’: “Abu Akleen is young, yet her book exceptionally renders a preternatural intimacy with death.”
Forthcoming in June: Poems and Essays from Gaza, Short Stories from Syria
As publication dates often slip — and new books surface — we try to have a glance at what’s really coming in translation from Arabic at the start of each month. If you have more books to add, please let us know.
ON BULAQ: A Talk with Batool Abu Akleen
On BULAQ, we talk to poet Batool Abu Akleen about refusing to write and then choosing to write through the genocide; about the importance of mentors; and about creating a community of literary translators in Gaza.
Batool Abu Akleen Takes Third Place in 2025 London Magazine Poetry Prize
Palestinian poet-translator Batool Abu Akleen took third place in the 2025 London Magazine Poetry Prize for her “Gunpowder.”
A Resonant Death: Poems & Reflections by Fatima Hassouna
Batool Abu Akleen writes: “Heartsick, I am sharing with you my translations of some of her prose and poetry, as it was her wish to have a RESONANT death.”
Writing to Survive: Extending the Discussion with Gazan Poets
Below is an extension of our editor Nashwa Nasreldin’s essay at New Lines, “Gazan Poets Write to Survive.“ By Nashwa Nasreldin When I first started writing this feature for New […]
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