New on the PalFest Bookshelf: Heaven Looks Like Us

We’re excited to announce the third instalment of the PalFest Bookshelf: Heaven Looks Like Us, edited by George Abraham and Noor Hindi, just out from Haymarket Books.

This landmark collection of poetry is a love letter to Palestinian ancestors, their descendants, and their land, to all anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles, to a history that will never be forgotten, and to a future in which there thrives a free Palestine.

Accompanying it is the healthcare issue of the New York War Crimes, published by Writers Against the War on Gaza. This issue contains reports, analyses, testimonies, poems, and songs of resistance, altogether reflecting the role of Gaza’s medical workers as a bulwark against death and despair.

And, if you need any more convincing, here is a poem from the collection, written by Palestinian poet Lina al-Sharif:

A Poem Hangs in the Balance

As long as

             we stand

as soon as

             we return

until

             we are free

and when

             we are free,

this land will know peace

the poem will be complete.

By subscribing to The PalFest Bookshelf you'll be giving critical support to daring new publishing on Palestine – crucial in this moment of increased censorship.

Introducing An Artist’s Manual Against Apartheid

Peeling back layer upon poetic layer of cultural resistance in the face of injustice, and drawing on ancestries of artistic defiance, An Artist’s Manual Against Apartheid documents the global artistic community’s stance for dignity in a unique digital toolkit culminating in a live performance at Shubbak Festival 2025.

Designed by Shubbak in collaboration with the powerful artistic duo chamæleon (Farah Chamma & LIEV), An Artist’s Manual Against Apartheid offers resources to inspire, guide, and empower artists on their journey of cultural resistance. It is an open-source, digital resource created to empower artists, cultural workers and the general public with tools and platforms to resist injustice through cultural means and to foster transformative change.

You’ll find practical guidance on cultural resistance, meditative exercises for inner resilience, and tools for navigating digital platforms as spaces for activism. With support from Amnesty International UK, Counterpoints Arts, Makan, PalArts, the Arab British Centre, An Artist’s Manual Against Apartheid moves to turn collective intentions for change into action.

You can check out the digital toolkit now, and stay tuned to Shubbak Festival’s website for details on the upcoming live performance.

London: SADA صدى (Echo) – Music from Palestine, 6 June

Experience the striking voices of Palestine in SADA, where music transcends boundaries to become a powerful form of resistance. 

Join the Shubbak Festival, in tandem with the Barbican Center, for a night of sound, heritage, and resilience in SADA صدى (Echo), showcasing the incredible talent of Palestinian artists. From DAM’s hard-hitting hip-hop to Rola Azar’s soulful folk melodies and Dana Salah’s fusion of Arabic folklore with global beats, this event will take you on an unforgettable musical journey.

Rola Azar, a celebrated Palestinian singer, blends traditional and contemporary sounds, using her voice to preserve and amplify Palestinian culture. Dana Salah, a rising star, brings her signature “Falahi Pop” sound, mixing Arabic folklore with global influences. DAM, “the quintessential Palestinian resistance band,” return to London with new & old beats. Together, they will ignite the stage with performances that speak to the spirit of resistance and unity.

The night will wrap up with a DJ set by the emblematic Sama’ Abdulhadi & a closing soundscape of electronica and dance with DJ YA Z AN opening. 

You can find out more details and reserve tickets here.

New York: A Night with Ta-Nehisi Coates, 10 June

Join Symphony Space New York on June 10 for a night of conversation, insight, and reflection with acclaimed author Ta-Nehisi Coates in conversation with Marguerite Casey Foundation (MCF) president and CEO Dr. Carmen Rojas. This special book club event, presented by Marguerite Casey Foundation in partnership with Haymarket Books, will delve into Coates’s latest work, The Message, a profound exploration of storytelling, justice, and the power of the written word as a tool to bear witness to injustice.

In The Message, Coates masterfully weaves together personal narratives, historical reflections, and urgent political commentary, addressing his students—and his readers—with a call to action: to do our part to “save the world.”

From his travels through Senegal, South Carolina, and Palestine, Coates outlines the value of forging global solidarities for the sake of reimagining a world rooted in dignity and justice. His essays are a testament to the enduring power of storytelling and the importance of challenging efforts to censor anticolonial histories and struggles.

You can find more details and reserve your free tickets here.

Book of the Week

This body of work is a form of creative resistance to what diminishes and divides us, giving space and utterance to those voices that have been blocked from our stages for too long.

—Naomi Wallace

With compelling characters, engaging storytelling, quick-witted humor, and unwavering political commitment, Ismail Khalidi has entertained and informed audiences in America and around the globe, providing diverse perspectives on the Palestinian experience from the British Mandate era to the challenges faced under occupation today.

This new collection spans Khalidi's career, featuring both his early monodramas and never-before-published new plays. An essential intervention in academic and artistic discourses that often overlook or marginalize Palestinian and Arab voices, Khalidi's work proves him to be an influential figure on an international scale, bridging the Americas and the Middle East.

Until I Return: The Selected Works of Ismail Khalidi further contextualizes his work with an essay by Professor Edward Ziter, an enlightening interview with the playwright conducted by the editors, and an annotated timeline of Khalidi's life, giving comprehensive insight into both the playwright and his impact.

Until I Return is out now — get your copy from our Bookshop (US / UK).

Media Roundup

Hunger That Defeats Language – Gaza-based writer and editor Hussam Marouf attempts to describe how chronic hunger has attenuated his sense of self and his grasp on language: “Hunger in a genocide is more than physical deprivation. It is the dismantling of the self. A slow extinction of your will to live.”

Israel’s War on Palestinian Journalists – Tariq Kenney-Shawa speaks to Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Mariam Barghouti about how killing Palestinian journalists is a necessary tactic for Israel to get away with genocide.

Doaa: From a Dreamworld to the Ashes of Displacement – Taqwa Ahmed Al-Wawi writes about her sister Doaa, a new mother who graduated and got married in October 2023 and whose entire adult life has been spent in a state of ongoing displacement and starvation. 

Surviving Occupation in a Climate-Changed West Bank – Reporting from the West Bank, Yessenia Funes describes how Palestinians innovate in their usage of water to circumnavigate the occupation’s claims to rights to the land’s resources and its water.

A Plan to Free Palestinian Hostages: Here's Why Unity Can't Wait – Former political prisoner Wael El Gaube argues that the path to Palestinian liberation necessarily entails the emptying of the Zionist prisons. 

When Universities Are Agents of the State – Emma Herman argues that the ongoing ideological conscription of Israeli universities by the occupation should serve as a warning for what’s to come for the universities in North America and Europe that have become sites of pro-Palestinian organizing and solidarity. 

A Renewed War on Gaza’s Hospitals: Israel Disables Them with Blood and Fire – In this harrowing report from on the ground in Gaza, Mohammad al-Naami describes the human cost of Israel’s deliberate targeting of healthcare infrastructure.

Reporting through Grief: The Story of Wael Al-Dahdouh – Mariam Mushtaha, a friend of the Al-Dahdouh family, describes the trials and tribulations of Wael Al-Dahdouh and his family as the result of his committed reporting. 

The Shame of Israeli Medicine – Neve Gordon, Guy Shalev, and Osama Tanous argue that the Israeli medical sector has disregarded the fundamental tenets of the field of medicine in order to run cover for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

The Second-Class Citizenship of Palestinian Israelis – Magdalena Berger interviews Ilan Pappé about the nature of the segregation of Palestinian citizens of Israel – so-called ‘48 Palestinians – from Israeli Jews, and the crucial role that these Palestinians could play in envisioning the future that will come after Israel. 

This Palestinian Town Is Reviving the Spirit of Struggle in ’48 Palestine – Yoav Haifawi reports from Umm al-Fahm, a town near Jenin, where protests in solidarity with Gaza are on the frontlines of repoliticizing a new generation of ‘48 Palestinians.

A Small Song for Despair – A poem by Fadwa Tuqan included in Aisha Odeh's memoir A Price for the Sun, newly translated by Fatme Abdallah: “Blessed is despair. / When it stretches, pulls, and grinds, / it jolts me / plants palm trees within me, / and plows the orchards of my soul.”

Consider subscribing to the PalFest Bookshelf to receive a curated selection of the finest new and classic books by Palestinian writers.

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