we are not numbers
emerging writers from Palestine tell their stories and advocate for their human rights
Young Palestinians primarily from Gaza, but also from the West Bank and the diaspora, will participate in a six-month schedule of trainings beginning in May.
WANN is contributing to the redevelopment of Gaza City by restarting its training program for emerging writers. Photo: Ahmed Dremly
Forty-one Palestinians received welcome emails from We Are Not Numbers this week, announcing that they had been accepted into the organization’s next training cohort. Twenty-eight of the members of this cohort are inside Gaza, while 13 are from the West Bank or various locations in the diaspora including Lebanon, Jordan, Europe, U.S, and Canada.
A previous cohort had begun training in Fall 2023, but activities were suspended when the genocide began. The new training cohort will be WANN’s nineteenth since its founding in 2015.
The young writers will attend in-person training at a location in Gaza City; online connection will be provided for participants who are geographically distant or unable to attend in person. The writers will also receive mentoring to complete essays or poems that will be published at the WANN website.
WANN received more than 200 applications to fill this cohort.
“Most of the applicants were truly extraordinary,” noted Ahmed Dremly, WANN’s Gaza-based project coordinator. “The current circumstances on the ground in Gaza do not allow us to accept everyone for training, but applicants who were not selected for this cohort can still receive mentoring assistance and publish with us on the WANN website. We are proud of them, too.”
Trainings for the new cohort will be conducted by journalists and other professionals on a variety of topics including: writing and revising; features of the first-person essay, poem, and reported feature story; WANN publication processes; communicating about Palestine in the Western media; effective use of social media; and public speaking. The majority of the presenters are in Gaza.
“Many of the members of the new cohort are truly emerging writers — they have never published before,” explained WANN assistant manager Mahmoud Mushtaha. “Some, however, were experienced but have not yet had the opportunity to train with WANN. This is their chance to fill in gaps in their writing knowledge.
“This is also a space for youth to use storytelling as a form of expression and healing, to articulate personal experiences shaped by life under Israeli siege, occupation, and genocide. It offers even displaced Palestinians, who may never have had the chance to visit their homeland, an opportunity to tell the stories of their families and preserve the memories of their grandparents.”
