Batool Abu Akleen’s ’48kg’ Makes Warwick Prize Longlist
Organizers today announced the thirteen books translated from twelve languages that have been longlisted for the 2026 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation.
Batool Abu Akleen
It’s (Re)Publication Day for Batool Abu Akleen’s ’48kg’
It’s Publication Day for the Penguin edition of Batool Abu Akleen’s debut poetry collection 48kg, with translations by Graham Liddell, Wiam El-Tamami, Cristina Viti, and Yasmin Zaher.
’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.’
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.”
1 2