Palestinian Authors

Explore our selection of books for all ages by Palestinian authors.

Updated March 18, 2024
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1

These olive trees
Ghanameh, Aya
Paper Book
The story of a Palestinian family's ties to the land, and how one young girl finds a way to care for her home, even as she says goodbye. It's 1967 in Nablus, Palestine. Oraib loves the olive trees that grow outside the refugee camp where she lives. Each harvest, she...

Also available in eBook format.

2

Mother of strangers
Amiry, Suad
Paper Book
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR from NPR  * Set in Jaffa in between 1947 and 1951, this "fable-like historical novel of young love ... darkly humorous and touching" (Oprah Daily) is based on a true story during the beginning of the destruction of Palestine and displacement of its...

3

The lines we cross
Abdel-Fattah, Randa
Paper Book
Michael is drawn to his new classmate Mina, but they're on opposite sides of an issue that's tearing their town apart. His parents are part of an anti-immigration group, while her family have fled their besieged home in Afghanistan. As tensions rise, lines are drawn and both must decide what they...

4

Against the loveless world : a novel
Abulhawa, Susan
Paper Book
2020 Palestine Book Awards Winner 2021 Aspen Words Literary Prize Finalist "Susan Abulhawa possesses the heart of a warrior; she looks into the darkest crevices of lives, conflicts, horrendous injustices, and dares to shine light that can illuminate hidden worlds...

5

Courting Samira : a novel
Awad, Amal
Paper Book
Set in Sydney, Australia, Courting Samira is a charming, big-hearted rom-com about a twenty-seven-year-old Palestinian woman who finds herself in an unexpected love triangle--a sparkling ode to meddling best friends, traditional courtship, The Princess Bride, and, of course, the possibility of...

6

We are Palestinian : a celebration of culture and tradition
Kassis, Reem
Paper Book
A stunning non-fiction children's book celebrating everything Palestinian! BOOKSTAGANG BEST BOOK OF 2023 WINNER  From culture and food, to music and literature, We Are Palestinian is a celebration of Palestinian heritage....

Canadian author.

7

Enter ghost
Hammad, Isabella
Paper Book
Winner of the Aspen Words Literary Prize  Winner of the Royal Society of Literature's Encore Award  Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction  A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book of the Year "Assured...

Also available in eBook format.

8

The arsonists' city
Alyan, Hala
Paper Book
"Feels revolutionary in its freshness." --Entertainment Weekly "The Arsonists' City delivers all the pleasures of a good old-fashioned saga, but in Alyan's hands, one family's tale becomes the story of a nation--Lebanon and Syria, yes, but also the United States. It's...
Also available in eBook format.

9

The beauty of your face : a novel
Mustafah, Sahar
Paper Book
A uniquely American story told in powerful, evocative prose, 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-...
Also available in eBook format.

10

Evil eye : a novel
Rum, Etaf
Paper Book
An NPR Best Book of the Year · A Time Magazine Most Anticipated Book of the Year "A moving meditation on motherhood, intergenerational trauma and how surface appearances often obscure a deeper truth. . . . A stunning second novel from a writer who set the bar very high with her...
Also available in Large Print format.

11

Minor detail
Shiblī, ʻAdanīyah
Paper Book
I could no longer accept the marginalised, minor life to which we had been exiled since 1948, when our existence turned into a 'problem''. Adania Shibli, from her essay 'Out of Time'. Minor Detail revolves around a brutal crime committed one year after the War of 1948,...
Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

12

A woman is no man
Rum, Etaf
Paper Book
A Washington Post 10 Books to Read in March - One of Cosmopolitan's Best Books by POC for 2019 - A Refinery 29 Best Book of the Month - A The Millions Most Anticipated Books of 2019 Three generations of Palestinian-American women living in Brooklyn are torn between individual desire and the strict...

Also available in DAISY, eBook and eAudiobook formats.

13

I shall not hate : a Gaza doctor's journey on the road to peace and human dignity
Abuelaish, Izzeldin.
Paper Book
By turns inspiring and heart-breaking, hopeful and horrifying, I Shall Not Hate is Izzeldin Abuelaish's account of an extraordinary life. A Harvard-trained Palestinian doctor who was born and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and "who has devoted his life to medicine and...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

14

The words of my father : love and pain in Palestine
Bashir, Yousef Khalil
Paper Book
"A work of profound spiritual beauty. . . . Offers all of us hope that this seemingly intractable conflict can find a solution that is just to both sides." -- Yossi Klein Halevi, author of the New York Times bestseller Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor A...
Also available in eBook format.

15

Stories from Palestine : narratives of resilience
Dunsky, Marda
Paper Book
Stories from Palestine profiles Palestinians engaged in creative and productive pursuits in their everyday lives in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Their narratives amplify perspectives and experiences of Palestinians exercising their own constructive agency. In...

16

Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine
Erakat, Noura
Paper Book
Justice in the Question of Palestine is often framed as a question of law. Yet none of the Israel-Palestinian conflict's most vexing challenges have been resolved by judicial intervention. Occupation law has failed to stem Israel's settlement enterprise. Laws of war have permitted killing and...

17

Nayra and the djinn
Ata, Iasmin Omar
Paper Book
In this coming-of-age graphic novel with a fantastical twist, Nayra Mansour, a Muslim American girl, is helped on her journey to selfhood by a djinn. Nothing is going right for Nayra Mansour. There's the constant pressure from her strict family, ruthless bullying from her...

18

Palestine on a plate : memories from my mother's kitchen
Kalla, Joudie
Paper Book
Palestinian food is not just found on the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem with the ka'ak (sesame) bread sellers and stalls selling za'atar chicken and mana'eesh (za'atar and sesame bread), but in the home too; in the kitchens all across the country, where families cook and eat...

19

We are not here to be bystanders : a memoir of love and resistance
Sarsour, Linda
Paper Book
Linda Sarsour, co-organizer of the Women's March, shares an "unforgettable memoir" (Booklist) about how growing up Palestinian Muslim American, feminist, and empowered moved her to become a globally recognized activist on behalf of marginalized communities across the country.

20

Where the line is drawn : a tale of crossings, friendships, and fifty years of occupation in Israel-Palestine
Shehadeh, Raja
Paper Book
"[Shehadeh's] books are maps, painstakingly pieced together, of regions lost to senseless division, to bad choices, and to lies." --The Nation "Remarkable and hopeful . . . a deeply honest and intense memoir." --Gal Beckerman, The New York Times...

21

They called me a lioness : a Palestinian girl's fight for freedom
Tamimi, Ahed
Paper Book
A Palestinian activist jailed at sixteen after a confrontation with Israeli soldiers illuminates the daily struggles of life under occupation in this moving, deeply personal memoir. "I cannot even begin to convey the clarity, the intensity, the power, the photographic storytelling of...

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