Summary
Palestinian writer, English teacher and founder of the Edward Said Public Library in Gaza; author of “Exporting Oranges and Short Stories: Cultural Struggle in the Gaza Strip” in Light in Gaza (2022), an account of Gaza’s libraries, literature, journalism, music and cinema under siege and internal censorship (Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, PDF p.174-205).
Details
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A student at the Islamic University of Gaza when Israeli aircraft struck its administration building on August 2, 2014, he rescued a copy of The Norton Anthology of American Literature from the rubble of the English Department; photos he posted of bombed books drew worldwide donations, from which he built Gaza’s first public English-language library (Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, PDF p.174-176).
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He corresponded with Noam Chomsky from March 2016; Chomsky’s donated books were held by the Israeli authorities from July 2016 until January 2017 under the mail ban on Gaza (PDF p.176-177, p.180).
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In May 2019 he was awarded a Harvard Scholars at Risk Fellowship as a visiting poet and librarian-in-residence at Houghton Library; Israeli permit delays and the US visa process cost him the first month and a half of the fellowship (PDF p.200).
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He writes that Gaza became known in Palestinian circles abroad as “the exporter of oranges and short stories”, and that in Gaza “culture is not only a site of expression but also a site of oppression imposed both by external and internal forces. Israel bans books and the Islamists ban music and film.” (PDF p.189, p.196).
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His poem “A Rose Shoulders Up”, reprinted in the anthology from Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear (City Lights, 2022), reads in full: “Don’t ever be surprised / to see a rose shoulder up / among the ruins of the house: / This is how we survived.” An Arabic version follows (PDF p.268, poetry).
Related pages
Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, Edward Said Public Library, Edward Said, Noam Chomsky, Gaza, Samir Mansour Bookstore