Books on Palestine by Palestinian authors ( Part One)

We have gathered a compilation of thirty novels/memoirs written by Palestinian authors to give our readers in six articles a gateway into the history, experiences, and lives of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation or in exile. 

1-The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah

The Beauty of Your Face navigates a country growing ever more divided. Afaf Rahman, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, is the principal of Nurrideen School for Girls, a Muslim school in the Chicago suburbs. One morning, a shooter--radicalized by the online alt-right--attacks the school.

As Afaf listens to his terrifying progress, we are swept back through her memories: the bigotry she faced as a child, her mother's dreams of returning to Palestine, and the devastating disappearance of her older sister that tore her family apart. Still, there is the sweetness of the music from her father's oud, and the hope and community Afaf finally finds in Islam.

2-I saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti

Aged 23, Mourid Barghouti graduated from university in Cairo and returned to his family home in Palestine, only to find out he was barred from entering the country due to the Six-Day War that had just taken place. He spent the next 30 years in exile, uncertain of when and if he would see his home and his family. This incredible and poignant account follows his journey.

3- Rifqa by Mohammed El-Kurd

Rifqa is Mohammed El-Kurd’s debut collection of poetry, written in the tradition of Ghassan Kanafani’s Palestinian Resistance Literature. The book narrates the author’s own experience of dispossession in Sheikh Jarrah--an infamous neighbourhood in Jerusalem, Palestine, whose population of refugees continues to live on the brink of homelessness at the hands of the Israeli government and US-based settler organisations.

4-Wild Thorns by Sahar Khalifeh

A young Palestinian named Usama returns from working in the Gulf to support the resistance movement. His mission is to blow up buses transporting Palestinian workers into Israel. Shocked to discover that many of his fellow citizens have adjusted to life under military rule, Usama exchanges harsh words with friends and family. Despite uncertainty he sets out to accomplish his mission ...with disastrous consequences. Originally published in Jerusalem, Wild Thorns is the first Arab novel to offer a glimpse of social and personal relations under Israeli occupation.

5-Salt Houses by Hala Alyan

On the eve of her daughter Alia’s wedding, Salma reads the girl’s future in a cup of coffee dregs. She sees an unsettled life for Alia and her children; she also sees travel, and luck. While she chooses to keep her predictions to herself that day, they will all soon come to pass when the family is uprooted in the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967. 

Salma is forced to leave her home in Nablus; Alia’s brother gets pulled into a politically militarized world he can’t escape; and Alia and her gentle-spirited husband move to Kuwait City, where they reluctantly build a life with their three children. When Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait in 1990, Alia and her family once again lose their home, their land, and their story as they know it, scattering to Beirut, Paris, Boston, and beyond. Soon Alia’s children begin families of their own, once again navigating the burdens (and blessings) of assimilation in foreign cities.