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WANN

we are not numbers

emerging writers from Palestine tell their stories and advocate for their human rights

Tag: language/literature

Open book with illustration and text in Arabic.

Reading “One Thousand and One Nights” in Gaza during the genocide

Day after day, the children would wait for me to open the book and transport them to another world.
Reem Sleem
  • Gaza Strip
  • Diaspora
A streetscape of Gaza City before it was destroyed in 2024.

Who am I?

I shall not speak / mouth stitched, eyes blind / limbs amputated.
Aya Adwan
  • Gaza Strip
  • Diaspora
A stack of fiction books.

Finding my refuge in books

Characters in novels have fortified me against the chaos I am living in right now and helped me determine how to respond.
Roaa Aladdin Missmeh
  • Gaza Strip
A library room with a vaulted ceiling.

Al-Khidr Library, my lost sanctuary

In Gaza books were my refuge; they had a special smell and distinctly flavored pages that I could taste with my eyes.
Reem Sleem
  • Gaza Strip
  • Diaspora
Embroidery of butterflies.

The chaos of the world has rendered me speechless

Words once poured out of me like butterflies flying from the inside. No longer.
Dana Besaiso
    Interior of an abandoned theatre

    All of Gaza’s a stage

    Child and adult actors rehearse the script of a tragic drama not of their choosing and perform it repeatedly.
    Haneen Alisawi
    • Gaza Strip