Palestinian Authors

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

Updated November 6, 2024
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1

Halal hot dogs
Aziz, Susannah
Paper Book
Musa has the perfect idea for his special Jummah treat, but things don't go according to plan. Will Musa be able to get a yummy Jummah treat for his family? Included in USA Today's 12 books for kids to read during Ramadan! "Musa's enthusiasm for...

2

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.

3

Eleven words for love : a journey through Arabic expressions of love
Abdel-Fattah, Randa
Paper Book
A lyrical narrative of a Palestinian family in exile explores universal bonds of family, loyalty, and friendship through the lens of eleven Arabic expressions for love. A family has fled their homeland in search of safety in another country, carrying a single suitcase. As their...

Also available in eBook format.

4

Homeland : my father dreams of Palestine
Moushabeck, Hannah
Paper Book
A father and his daughters may not be able to return home . . . but they can celebrate stories of their homeland! As bedtime approaches, three young girls eagerly await the return of their father who tells them stories of a faraway homeland--Palestine....

Also available in eBook format.

5

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...

6

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.

7

Something more
Khalilieh, Jackie
Paper Book
Fifteen-year-old Jessie, a quirky loner obsessed with the nineties, is diagnosed as autistic just weeks before starting high school. Determined to make a fresh start and keep her diagnosis a secret, Jessie creates a list of goals that range from acquiring two distinct eyebrows to getting a magical...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author

8

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...
Also available in eBook format.

9

You exist too much : a novel
Arafat, Zaina
Paper Book
A "provocative and seductive debut" of desire and doubleness that follows the life of a young Palestinian American woman caught between cultural, religious, and sexual identities as she endeavors to lead an authentic life (O, The Oprah Magazine). On a hot day in Bethlehem,...
Also available in eBook format.

10

Minor detail
Shibli?, ?Adani?yah
Paper Book
Minor Detail begins during the summer of 1949, one year after the war that the Palestinians mourn as the Nakba--the catastrophe that led to the displacement and exile of some 700,000 people--and the Israelis celebrate as the War of Independence. Israeli soldiers murder an encampment of Bedouin in...
Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

11

A woman is no man : a novel
Rum, Etaf
Paper Book
A Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist for Best Fiction and Best Debut * BookBrowse's Best Book of the Year * A Marie Claire Best Women's Fiction of the Year * A Real Simple Best Book of the Year * A PopSugar Best Book of the Year * A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * A...

Also available in DAISY, eBook and eAudiobook formats.

12

Her first Palestinian : and other stories
Teebi, Saeed
Paper Book
Finalist for the 2022 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize Elegant, surprising stories about Palestinian immigrants in Canada navigating their identities in circumstances that push them to the emotional brink. Saeed Teebi's intense, engrossing stories plunge into the...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author

13

Jamilah at the end of the world
Zeitoun, Mary-Lou
Paper Book
"An appealing title for environmentally minded reluctant readers." -- Kirkus Reviews Set against the backdrop of a brutal Toronto summer heatwave, seventeen-year-old Jamilah Monsour makes plans for what she's certain is the beginning of the climate change catastrophe that will...

Canadian author.

14

Wishing upon the same stars
Feldman, Jacquetta Nammar
Paper Book
This powerful and poignant coming-of-age middle grade debut novel follows an Arab American girl named Yasmeen as she moves to San Antonio with her family and navigates finding friendship--and herself. Perfect for fans of Other Words for Home, Front Desk, and American as Paneer...
Also available in eBook format.

15

I shall not hate : a Gaza doctor's journey
Abuelaish, Izzeldin.
Paper Book
"What can you do? You can do a lot. You can support justice for all by speaking out loudly to your family, friends, community, politicians and religious leaders. You can support foundations that do good work. You can volunteer for humanitarian organizations. You can vote regressive...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

16

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.

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

Under the Nakba tree : fragments of a Palestinian family in Canada
Househ, Mowafa Said
Paper Book
Mowafa's family fled Palestine in 1948 and arrived in Canada in the 1970s. His childhood was spent in Edmonton, Alberta, where he grew up as a visible minority and a muslim whose family had a deeply fractured history. In the year 2000, Mowafa visited his family's homeland of Palestine. It was the...

Canadian author.

19

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...

20

Cast away : poems for our time
Nye, Naomi Shihab
Paper Book
"Nye at her engaging, insightful best." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Acclaimed poet and Young People's Poet Laureate Naomi Shihab Nye shines a spotlight on the things we cast away, from plastic water bottles to those less fortunate, in this collection of more than eighty...

21

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.

22

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...

23

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...

24

Farah rocks fifth grade
Darraj, Susan Muaddi
Paper Book
Farah and her best friend, Allie Liu, are getting excited to turn in their applications to the Magnet Academy, where they both hope to attend sixth grade. But when new girl Dana Denver shows up, Farah's world is turned upside down. As Dana starts bullying Farah's little brother, Samir, Farah begins...

Also available in eBook format.

25

Sitti's bird: A gaza story
Mattar, Malak
Paper Book
Malak is a little girl who lives in Gaza with her parents. She goes to school, plays in the ocean, and visits Sitti's house on Fridays. One day while she is in school, bombings begin. She spends the next 50 days at home with her parents worrying and feeling scared, until one day she picks up her...

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