Palestinian Authors

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

Updated March 18, 2024
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.

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

11 words for love
Abdel-Fattah, Randa
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 PRIME MINISTER'S LITERARY AWARD FOR CHILDREN'S LITERATURE A CBCA NOTABLE PICTURE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 MULTICULTURAL NSW AWARD There are eleven words for love, and my family knows them all. ...

Also available in eBook format.

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
Abulhawa, Susan
Paper Book
As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison in a country she barely knows. Born in Kuwait in the 70s to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man, raising children, and possibly...

5

We are Palestinian : a celebration of culture and tradition
Kassis, Reem
Paper Book
Celebrating all things Palestinian!

Canadian author.

6

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...

7

Enter ghost
Hammad, Isabella
Paper Book

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

Something more
Khalilieh, Jackie
Paper Book
A contemporary teen romance novel featuring a Palestinian-Canadian girl trying to hide her autism diagnosis while navigating her first year of high school, for fans of Jenny Han and Samira Ahmed. Fifteen-year-old Jessie, a quirky loner obsessed with the nineties, is diagnosed as...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author

10

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.

11

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.

12

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.

13

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.

14

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.

15

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.

16

I shall not hate : a Gaza doctor's journey on the road to peace and human dignity
Abuelaish, Izzeldin.
Paper Book
'I'm convinced that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians would rather look to the future than be trapped in the past. We see that spirit in [Izzeldin Abuelaish]' Barack Obama, keynote speech on the Middle East, 19 May 2011 Heart-breaking, hopeful and horrifying, I...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

17

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.

18

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...

19

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...

20

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.

21

Palestine on a plate : memories from my mother's kitchen
Kalla, Joudie
Paper Book
Palestine on a Plate showcases the wide-ranging, vibrant and truly delicious dishes of this country and introduces the reader to traditional Palestinian methods, cooking styles and flavours.

22

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.

23

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...

24

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...

25

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...

26

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...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.