Gaza Writes Back, Memorial Edition

Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine is a compelling collection of stories written in English by young writers in Gaza in the period after Israel's brutal 2008-09 offensive against Gaza. The stories, collected by English-literature professor Dr. Refaat Alareer, take us into the homes and hearts of ordinary Gaza Palestinians trying to live lives of dignity and meaning in a community that, even then, was one of the world's most embattled.

Dr. Refaat contributed three stories of his own to the book, along with a poem and a Foreword in which he powerfully explained his pedagogy and his belief in the universal impact of fiction.

In early December 2023, the Israeli military assassinated Dr. Refaat spreading horror among all who loved and respected him around the world.

This new edition of the collection is produced in loving memory of Dr. Refaat's life and work. It contains a new Foreword by Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada. And in the backmatter, where in the first edition the story contributors had a chance to introduce themselves, we now include updated self-descriptions from all those we could contact, while somberly recognizing that the fate of many of those other young people remains unknown.

Scroll further on down here to find a video of the launch event we held for the Memorial Edition, in December 2024 and many of the lovely endorsements that this work-- which Dr. Refaat's judged his proudest achievement-- has garnered over the years.

*** You can find links to many other resources on Gaza Writes Back and on Dr. Refaat's life and legacy at this page on our website.

*** In 2015, Dr. Refaat worked with JWB author Laila El-Haddad to co-edit Gaza Unsilenced (JWB, 2015) a wide-ranging anthology of non-fiction works written about the lived experience and broader impact of the 51-day assault that Israel launched against Gaza in Summer 2014. Its content, which includes several works by each of the co-editors as well as some haunting black-and-white photography, still has much grim resonance a decade later.

Note: For now, the original 2014 paperback edition of Gaza Writes Back remains in print (ISBN 9781935982357), as an affordable complement to the new Memorial Edition. Later in 2025, we plan to phase that one out and issue a paperback edition of the Memorial Edition.

Refaat Alareer, Ali Abunimah, and story contributor Yousef Aljamal, at the 2014 launch of Gaza Writes Back, Philadelphia, USA, 2014:

About Refaat Alareer and Ali Abunimah

Dr. Refaat Alareer, a son of Shijaiyeh in Gaza, gained an M.A. in English Literature from University College, London, and a Ph.D from the University of Malaya, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the poetry of John Donne. He was a beloved professor of English literature and literature in English at the Islamic University of Gaza and a leader in the "We Are Not Numbers" organization. In December 2023 the Israeli military killed him in a targeted operation.

Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian-American leader in the campaign for Palestinian rights, is the founding director of The Electronic Intifada website and the author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse (Metropolitan Books, 2006.) He gained his B.A. from Princeton University and an M.A. from the University of Chicago.