2024 was a monumental year in the history of Palestine and international human rights. It also marked an extraordinary milestone for the global recognition of Palestinian literature. As we take a moment to breathe during this tensely anticipated ceasefire in 2025, here are eight books that embody resilience, identity, and the spirit of resistance, as told through Palestinian stories.

1. Lana Makes Purple Pizza: A Palestinian Food Tale by Amanda Najib

2024 saw the first children’s book to win the Palestine Book Award. Lana Makes Purple Pizza tells the story of a Palestinian girl who celebrates her family’s resilience and heritage by making Msakhan – a national dish covered in purple caramelized onion, hence the name “purple pizza.” With colourful illustrations and a heartwarming message about family, tradition, and identity, this book is a joy for readers of all ages.

2. Bethlehem: A Celebration of Palestinian Food by Fadi Kattan

Hailed as the best cookbook of the year by The Los Angeles Times, Franco-Palestinian chef Fadi Kattan revisits his home, Bethlehem, through stunning photography of preserved Palestinian houses, markets, and the stories confined within this ancient city’s walls. Combining mouthwatering recipes with cultural and historical insights, Kattan offers readers a sensory journey into the heart of Palestinian cuisine.

3. I Could Die Today and Live Again by Summer Farah

If you think video games and Palestinian resistance don’t go together, think again. Inspired by The Legend of Zelda, Farah’s poetry is a unique blend of video game metaphors and the Palestinian experience. Farah explores themes of death and rebirth, grief and new beginnings, mirroring the cyclical nature of video games to highlight the repetitive patterns of occupation and resistance.

Like characters in a video game, the poems vividly depict daily Palestinian life as a series of “quests” that Palestinians have to overcome. From passing checkpoints and surviving bombings to waking up to arbitrary arrests, or grieving the death of a loved one, Farah’s inventive approach creates a poignant reflection on the endurance required to live under modern colonial oppression.

4. If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose by Refaat Alareer

In honour of martyred poet and English professor Refaat Alareer, his poem If I Must Die – which became an anthem of Palestinian resistance over the past year -was curated along with his other works into a poetry collection of the same name. This collection reached the top 20 on the USA Today Booklist within its first week of publication. This collection of 41 poems and essays spans Alareer’s work from 2010 to 2023, offering a glimpse of the man behind the pen, and profound insights into his love for literature and his efforts to humanise Palestinians through Humanities, as he tries to make sense of discrimination and oppression.

5. Against Erasure: A Photographic Memory of Palestine Before the Nakba by Teresa Aranguren and Sandra Barrilaro

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this photographic compilation proves it. Edited by Spanish journalist Teresa Aranguren and photographer Sandra Barrilaro, with a foreword by Mohammed El-Kurd, Against Erasure showcases the vibrancy of Palestinian lives before the 1948 Nakba.

These images serve as a vital counter-narrative to the erasure of indigenous identity. By preserving these memories, the book asserts the enduring presence and humanity of Palestinians in the face of systematic dispossession.

6. Environmental Warfare in Gaza: Colonial Violence and New Landscapes of Resistance by Shourideh C. Molavi

For academic readers, senior lecturer Shourideh C. Molavi delves into a less explored aspect of Palestine’s occupation – Israel’s environmental warfare on Gazan soil. Molavi meticulously documents how environmental destruction in Gaza—through methods like resource depletion, pollution, and agricultural sabotage—constitutes a form of colonial violence.

This groundbreaking book combines documents, original maps, archival materials, drone footage, photographs, and testimonies from Palestinian farmers and activists to expose the silent war of ecological violence and its role in shaping resistance.

7. Beside the Sickle Moon: A Palestinian Story by Thaer Husien

Set in 2065, Beside the Sickle Moon imagines a dystopian Palestine under advanced Israeli technological warfare and burgeoning Palestinian guerrilla resistance movements. Thaer Husien weaves a gripping tale of espionage, resistance, and the anxieties of Palestinian youth, holding you to the edge of your seat as you wonder what will happen next to his protagonist, Laeth Awad. The novel addresses themes of uncertainty, survival-hood, and how neoliberalism shapes settler colonialism in this futuristic yet deeply reflective narrative.

8. Thyme Travellers: An Anthology of Palestinian Speculative Fiction by Sonia Sulaiman

Sonia Sulaiman pushes the boundaries of Palestinian literature by curating an anthology of speculative fiction. Featuring 14 voices from the Palestinian diaspora, the collection blends folklore, sci-fi, fantasy, history, and transhumanism while staying rooted in the essence of the Palestinian story.

To stay up-to-date with the latest Palestinian voices, prioritise purchasing from local publishing houses that have signed the Publishers for Palestine statement of solidarity, if possible. Some of these include Pluto Press and Haymarket Books UK, which offer a wide range of non-fiction Palestinian books. Suppose your local publishers don’t carry what you’re looking for. In that case, I suggest checking out independent booksellers such as The Broadway Bookshop, Aye-Aye Books, The Common Press Bookshop, New Beacon Books, Housemans (Kings Cross), and Freedom Press (Whitechapel) for more books focused on the Palestinian resistance.

Salma El Zamel

From Msakhan to Martyrs: 8 Palestinian Books You Need to Read From 2024