WE ARE NOT NUMBERS: The Voices of Gaza’s Youth

Curated by WANN co-founders Ahmed Alnaouq and Pam Bailey, the essays in this collection are not just reflections on occupation. They’re records of memory, family, exile, friendship, resistance, and hope—raw and unfiltered.

The European edition is published by Hutchinson Heinemann, a literary imprint of Penguin Books UK. Order your paperback copy now.  Hardback also available.

The North American edition is published by Interlink Publishing. Order now.

The Italian edition, “Non siamo numeri: Le voci dei giovani di Gaza,” is published by Nutrimenti. Order your copy now.

The Japanese edition, を生きる:パレスチナの若者たち10年の手記, is published by Hara shobō. Order your copy now.

The audio version is available from Penguin: Order your audiobook now.

Plan a book-related event using the Solidarity Event Kit developed by Interlink.

If you or an organization you’re affiliated with would like to host a speaking event or discussion group, email ahmed@wearenotnumbers.org.

Reviews and recommendations:

• “We Are Not Numbers is not just a book—it’s my life, their life, and our shared story … This is Gaza as it truly is, written by those who live it every day” — MOTAZ AZIZA
• “This book is a jailbreak and a miracle” — NAOMI KLEIN
• “Essential … A project that insists on liberation” — TA-NEHISI COATES
• “Impossible to put down or forget” — RIZ AHMED
• “… a worthy addition to the previous compilations put together by Refaat al-Areer, who the book is dedicated to” — PALESTINE BOOKSHELF (watch full review)
• “Between 2015 and 2024, they published more than 1,300 stories on the website of the same name, in English. Now, they have gone a step further and, in the midst of the genocide, have collected these testimonies in a book” — AINARA LERTXUNDI (read full review in GUAR 8)
•  “This book confirms that the cause of justice for Palestine simply cannot be ignored…. the book to which all these young people have contributed should be seen as the most important book of the year, and certainly the most urgent publication for some time.” —  JIM AITKEN (read full review in Culture Matters)
• We Are Not Numbers takes the voices of Gaza’s youth out beyond the walls of the world’s largest open-air prison, now become a killing field. —  JIM HICKS (read full review in The Massachusetts Review)
• The 75 essays and poems are very personal, with thoughts, stories and feelings that range from cosmic speculations to musings on small, ordinary aspects of their peculiar lives and dreams—before, during and after all the murderous Israeli attacks that, after October 7, 2023, have not ceased. — STEVE FRANCE (read full review in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs)