Preorder the first anthology from Palestine Writes Press!
One of my great regrets from 2023 was not being able to attend the Palestine Writes Literature Festival in September. My cat Tiny had to have dental surgery in which all of his teeth were removed, and I had to be around to tend to him and give him medicine. It was such a beautiful expression of Palestinian community, art, and resilience before such a horrific turn just two weeks later after the occupation ramped up the genocide that began in 1948.
There was no festival in 2024, but I hope it will return soon. I’m craving community with my people near and far.
In the meantime, the literature festival started its own press, and the first book, an anthology called Ask the Night for a Dream: Palestinian Writing From the Diaspora, is officially available for preorder! I’m proud to have an especially vulnerable essay about my family in there, and I’m joined by dear friends Mona Gazala and Sara Abou Rashed, both Ohio Palis like me. Not to mention the number of Palestinian writers whose work I admire and respect, like susan abulhawa, Rasha Abdulhadi, and Yahya Ashour.
If you preorder, you can get $5 off by using the code “dream.”
I’m grateful to have so many things to be excited about in 2025. Between the release of Ask the Night for a Dream, the launch of my own poetry collection, We Had Mansions, my upcoming residency at Firefly Farms, and an as-yet-unannounced prestigious poetry fellowship, I have things to look forward to that keep me going.