Reading Palestine: Isabella Hammad

In the span of five years, the young Palestinian-British writer, Isabella Hammad, has emerged as one of our most exciting novelists working in English today. Her stories are compelling and original not just for their literary grace, but for the fact that they center the experiences of Palestinians facing ethnic cleansing and erasure. We will read Hammad's three books in order, ending with her remarkable new essay, Recognizing the Stranger, which shows the power of literature to speak clearly and eloquently even in the fog of genocidal war. Discussions will be facilitated by Professor Elliott Colla of Georgetown University, who has taught Palestinian literature for more than 25 years.

Dates:

11/7 The Parisian

11/14 Enter Ghost

12/12 Recognizing the Stranger

Optional Background Reading List curated by Professor Colla:

Histories of Palestine-Israel

1. Rashid Khalidi, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine (2020).
2. Walid Khalid, All that Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 (2006).
3. Ilan Pappé, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006).
4. Edward Said, The Question of Palestine (1979).
5. Avi Shlaim, The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (2000).

Some Classic Works of Palestinian Literature

Arabophone

1. Mahmoud Darwish, Journal of an Ordinary Grief (1973).
2. ——, Memory for Forgetfulness (1995).*
3. ——, In the Presence of Absence (1985).
4. Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, The Search for Waleed Masoud (1978) *
5. ——, The Ship (1985)
6. Ghassan Kanafani, Men in the Sun (1961)
7. ——, Returning to Haifa (1969) *
8. Adania Shibli, Touch (2001)
9. ——, Minor Detail (2020) *

Anglophone

1. Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin (2010)
2. Suheir Hammad, Born Palestinian, Born Black (1996).*
3. Fady Joudah, Footnotes in the Order of Disappearance (2018).
4. Fawaz Turki, Soul in Exile (1988). *

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Lost City Books, 2467 18th Street Northwest, Washington, United States