September: 5 from Gaza
A look at four exceptional writers and one illustrator working in different genres
This month, we want to take a close look at five exceptional literary artists from Gaza working in different genres: poetry, children’s literature, short fiction, novels, memoir.
📚Nasser Rabah: Poet and short-story writer with irony, craft, and depth of emotion
Although he’s better-known for his poetry, Nasser Rabah is also finalist for the 2024 Arabic Flash Fiction Prize from ArabLit and Komet Kashakeel for his ironic “Seedlings for the Dead.” Our judge Sarah Enany said of this story:
In "Seedlings for the Dead," an unnamed official in occupied Palestine, tasked with delivering sweet basil seedlings to cheer up children in refugee camps – an empty gesture at most – is overcome with an impulse to scatter the doomed little plants over a coffin in a sparsely attended funeral procession he happens to pass by. The savage irony of the story interweaves symbols of death and life, the desire to make a difference and the harsh question whether our actions do, in fact, make any difference. It blurs the line between real and fake, offering a mordant criticism of empty gestures, noble thoughts and misguided emotions devoid of action.
You can read his poem “Amjad,” translated by the exceptional Wiam El-Tamami, on ArabLit, and he has a collection of poems forthcoming in English translation from City Lights in 2025.
Any publisher who was interested in a collection of his sharp and trenchant short stories in English translation should reach out to Nasser & Wiam. We can also put publishers working in other languages in touch with Nasser.
Interested publishers can reach out via info@arablit.org.
📚Baraa Alawoor: Award-winning children’s book illustrator
Baraa Alawoor is best known as a multi-award-winning illustrator of children’s books (awards from book fairs in Sharjah, Bologna, elsewhere); you can find some of her work at her instagram (@baraa_awoor2) and Behance (baraaawoor1a25).
We particularly recommend Damdum the Cloudmaker, written by Syrian author Raw’ah Sunbul and illustrated by Alawoor, and her silent book "مطاردة " (find a video from publisher Yanbow al-Kitab).
You can find a review of Damdum the Cloudmaker from librarian Elisabet Risberg and see more from Damdum here.
Interested publishers can reach out via info@arablit.org.
📚Muin Bseiso (1926-1984): One of Palestine’s most renowned poets, chronicler of Gaza
Muin Bseiso also written Mu'in Bseiso was — and remains — one of Gaza’s most influential intellectuals and renowned poets, although he has appeared little in translation. An excerpt of his nonfiction appears in the Gaza! Gaza! Gaza! issue of ArabLit Quarterly and some of his poems appear in the collection The Tent Generations: Palestinian Poems from Banipal Books, but there is no book-length work to our knowledge.
He is author of many collections of poetry as well as playtexts and nonfiction. Some of his most prominent nonfiction is his 1971 Gaza Diaries and 1978 Palestinian Notebooks.
Anyone who would like to read an excerpt of Gaza Diaries in Cara Piraino’s translation can find it in our Gaza! Gaza! Gaza! issue or by emailing for a copy.
Publishers interested in acquiring rights can contact reach out to info@arablit.org.
📚Batool Abu Akleen: Exceptional young poet who started winning prizes at 15
This week, award-winning Gaza-based Palestinian poet and artist Batool Abu Akleen was named the 2024 Modern Poetry in Translation (MPT) poet-in-residence.
I remember Batool Abu Akleen from reading through the slush pile for the Barjeel Poetry Prize; when we came upon her award-winning poem, “I didn’t steal the cloud,” it was a moment of pure delight. She was just 15 when she won that prize, and her work has since been featured in the anthology Of Water and Time, in the "Gaza! Gaza! Gaza!" issue of ArabLit Quarterly, in Modern Poetry in Translation, and in other venues.
Over at ArabLit, we have “6 Poems to Celebrate Batool Abu Akleen, MPT's 2024 Poet in Residence.”
Publishers interested in acquiring rights can contact reach out to info@arablit.org or MPT.
📚Yousri Alghoul: Author of grief and its disruptions
Translator Graham Liddell writes that he first encountered Yousri Alghoul’s writing when he was working on my dissertation project in graduate school. “I had been looking for contemporary novels about increased irregular migration to Europe, written from the perspective of refugees from the Arab world and Afghanistan. My PhD advisor had seen a review of Yousri’s novel Gallows of Darkness and recommended I check it out. I was immediately intrigued by Yousri’s approach of putting experiences of Palestinian dispossession into conversation with narratives of the current ‘refugee crisis’ in Europe. He did so by placing refugee characters from Gaza and Syria literally in ‘the same boat’ — a rubber dinghy making an ill-fated clandestine crossing from Turkey to Greece.”
Even throughout the unfolding genocide in Gaza, Yousri has continued to write. His short story, “A Life Dipped in Blood” was written and is set during the current war; Liddell’s translation of this story was published in the Irish litmag The Stinging Fly. Yousri aspires to continue honing his writing craft by participating in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, where he has been accepted, but he has thus far been unable to travel to the US to attend.
Read: “Today My Sight is Sharp,” by Alghoul, tr. Liddell
“A Life Dipped in Blood,” by Alghoul, tr. Liddell
Publishers interested in acquiring rights can contact reach out to info@arablit.org, to be put in touch with Liddell or Alghoul.
💰Grants, subsidies, & support
Don’t miss LEILA’s list of grants, subsidies, and support on their website.
The Sheikh Zayed Book Award offers a significant subsidy for shortlisted titles in the children’s and literature categories. This could include a subsidy for Iman Mersal’s In the Footsteps of Enayat al-Zayyat, which has been translated to English and French; however, rights are still available in many languages.
If you know of grants or subsidies targeting Arabic literature, please let us know at info@arablit.org.