[DEI book club] Palestine books

[hermionesviolin]

mid-March, O. asked, "could we read something by a Palestinian author, or about Palestine, at some point?" Conveniently, April is Arab American Heritage Month.

A.D. came through as usual. I've copied their posts in the Slack, adding in Bookshop links, publication dates, info about the authors, etc. Love to have 10 books to rank choice vote on 😂 Feel free to weigh in if you have any thoughts.

Here are some suggestions for books about Palestine/written by Palestinians:

• Wild Thorns by Sahar Khalifeh [fiction; first published in 1976 -- author was born in Nablus in 1941; she divides her time between Amman, Jordan and Nablus, Palestine]
  
• The Drone Eats with Me: A Gaza Diary by Atef Abu Saif [nonfiction, 2016; war diary of Israel’s 2014 invasion of Gaza -- author was born in Jabalia Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip in 1973]
  
• Evil Eye by Etaf Rum [fiction, 2024 -- author was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, by Palestinian immigrants]
  
• On Palestine by Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappé [nonfiction, 2015 -- Chomsky was born to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Pappé is an Israeli historian, political scientist, and former politician]
  
• I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti [memoir, 2003 -- author was born in the West Bank in 1944]
  
• Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis [nonfiction, 2016 -- author is African American, not Palestinian]
  
• Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa [fiction, 2021 -- author is a Palestinian-American writer and political activist]
  

I read ten books Palestinian books last year, so here are a few that I really enjoyed/would recommend as well:

• The Arsonists' City by Hala Alyan [fiction, 2022 -- author is Palestinian-American]
  
• In My Mother's Footsteps: A Palestinian Refugee Returns Home by Mona Hajjar Halaby [memoir, 2021]
  
• A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar [fiction, 2009 -- author was born in Chicago in 1978. She grew up in Kuwait and Egypt, and moved back to the U.S. at thirteen.]