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Poetry Books
Poetry has long been a vital vessel for Palestinian memory, resistance, and resilience. In a land where displacement, occupation, and loss have become part of the lived reality for generations, poetry does more than bear witness — it preserves identity, affirms dignity, and insists on hope. For Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and the diaspora, verse becomes both a personal act of survival and a collective declaration that their stories will not be erased.
The poets and collections in this section speak in many registers — from the quiet intimacy of daily life under siege to the urgent cry for justice in the face of atrocity. Some, like Refaat Alareer and Mosab Abu Toha, write directly from Gaza’s streets and rubble; others, like Najwan Darwish, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, and Remi Kanazi, bring diasporic and international perspectives that connect Palestinian struggle to global movements for equity and human rights. Together, they form a chorus that is diverse in style yet unified in moral clarity.
These works are not confined to the page. Many of the poets are also educators, journalists, and activists. Their poetry often overlaps with public testimony, blending lived experience with art to bridge the personal and the political. They stand in a lineage that stretches from the foundational work of Mahmoud Darwish and Fadwa Tuqan to a new generation of voices engaging the digital age, performance spaces, and global literary forums.
To read these poems is to enter a space where grief, beauty, defiance, and love coexist. In Gaza and Palestine, poetry is not a luxury — it is a form of cultural continuity, a refusal to surrender memory, and a means of imagining a just future. This section invites the reader to encounter that spirit through a range of contemporary and historical works, anthologies, and collections, each offering its own lens on what it means to live, to endure, and to hope in Palestine.
Refaat Alareer – If I Must Die, OR Books, 2024.
A Palestinian educator and poet from Gaza, Alareer wrote in English to circumvent the barriers of translation, offering his voice directly to the world. His poem "If I Must Die" (2011) became widely known after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike in December 2023. A posthumous collection, If I Must Die: Poetry and Prose, compiles this poem with other works that express resilience, resistance, and hope. The poem’s final image—a kite assembled from personal belongings—symbolizes survival, memory, and continuity.
Remi Kanazi – Poetic Injustice, RoR Books, 2011 and Before the Next Bomb Drops, Haymarket Books, 2020.
Palestinian-American performance poet and organizer based in New York, Kanazi writes with urgency and passion. His collections Poetic Injustice: Writings on Resistance and Palestine (2011) and Before the Next Bomb Drops: Rising Up From Brooklyn to Palestine (2015) combine spoken word, hip-hop rhythms, and personal narrative to challenge systems of oppression. He also edited the anthology Poets for Palestine (2008), featuring influential voices like Mahmoud Darwish and Suheir Hammad.
Mosab Abu Toha – Forest of Noise, Knopf, 2024 and Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear, City Lights, 2022.
A Gaza-born poet now living in New York, Abu Toha captures daily life under siege with unflinching clarity. His collections Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear and Forest of Noise (the latter covering experiences before and after the October 7 events) evoke memory, trauma, and survival. His poem “We Deserve a Better Death” mourns the brutality and erasure faced by Gazans.
Najwan Darwish. Nothing More to Lose, NYRB Poets, 2014.
Born in Jerusalem, Darwish is considered a leading contemporary Arab poet. His collections Nothing More to Lose and Exhausted on the Cross (both translated into English) bring lyrical intensity to themes of identity, resistance, and legacy. His latest work ... (2024), written in the wake of violence in Gaza, was a finalist for both the National Book Award and Forward Prize. It uses ellipsis as a poetic tool for silence, erasure, and remembrance.
Lena Khalaf Tuffaha. Something About Living, University of Akron Press, 2024.
This 2024 collection, awarded the Akron Poetry Prize and later the National Book Award, explores Tuffaha’s Palestinian heritage and themes of love, violence, family, and home. An explicitly Palestinian American volume, its poems appear in literary journals like The Nation, and reflect a poignant engagement with memory and diaspora.
Poetry Anthologies
Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire, Haymarket Books, 2022. Edited by Jehad Abusalim, Michael Merryman-Lotze, and Jennifer Bing.
This anthology gathers voices from Gaza and the Palestinian diaspora, spanning poetry, essays, and memoir from both pre- and post-Nakba generations. Contributors reflect on the lived realities of siege, displacement, and survival while also celebrating culture, resilience, and the enduring human spirit. The volume situates personal stories within the broader sweep of Palestinian history, offering readers an unflinching yet life-affirming portrait of Gaza as both a place of hardship and a wellspring of creativity.
Out of Gaza, Smokestack Books, 2024. Edited by Atef Alshaer and Alan Morrison.
This urgent anthology responds to the escalating crises in Gaza with contributions from an international roster of poets, including Naomi Shihab Nye, Hala Alyan, and Lena Khalaf Tuffaha. The collection blends witness, lament, and calls to action, drawing together perspectives from inside Gaza and across the diaspora. Written in the midst of humanitarian catastrophe, Out of Gaza serves as both a literary record of the moment and a plea for justice, grounded in solidarity and human connection.
Poems for Palestine, Hesperus Classics, 2024.
"Poems for Palestine" was launched as a project aiming to collect together verse written by the people of Palestine, as a website open to all comers, all free to upload their work. The broad spectrum of the resulting talent displays a multitude of different poetic styles, subject matters, and emotions. The role of art, and poetry in particular, as a cathartic healer is crucial to this venture—the poems are in turn full of anguish, emotion, longing, and love. In an age which sees a multitude of conflicts all over the world, it is important to make sure that we do not forget to listen to the voices of those affected. Too many people live in danger, in exile, or in despair today, and this project may well serve as a refrain for displaced people, from war-torn countries all over the word.
