Palestine - 1: Stories From The Eve Of The Nakba edited by Basma Ghalayini

How can literature respond to a genocide. Is it even possible to write fiction after witnessing the horrors inflicted on Gaza?

The contributors to Palestine - 1 attempt to answer this question, ignoring the lie that history began in October 2023, and addressing the great crime that underpins the entire occupation: the invasion and systematic annihilation of Palestine in 1948, displacing over 750,000 people, and stealing 80% of their land – the event collectively remembered as ‘the Nakba’.

Using literary devices typically associated with the horror genre – dreams, visions, ghosts, djinn, doppelgangers and divided selves – these authors explore the lead-up to 1948 and its aftermath, inviting readers to question the very realities that we, safe in the West, have built for ourselves. If the first casualty of war is truth, the last is often the peace of mind of those who are invaded – a generational trauma, in the case of Palestinians, that haunts them in a language that fantasy and speculative fiction can certainly speak to.

Paperback / 242 pages