'Gaza and Genocide' on the Longlist for the Palestine Book Awards

Middle East Monitor, a London-based British media platform, announced the longlist for the 2026 Palestine Book Awards, in their fifteenth edition.

The list comprises 15 works spanning academic studies, memoirs, creative writing, and cultural criticism, with Gaza, genocide, settler colonialism, and Palestinian memory featured prominently in the selected books. The awards received approximately 80 submissions this year, from which 15 books were chosen. Among them is *The Testaments*, which compiles the testaments of 18 writers from Gaza, including texts by authors killed by Israel, such as Raef Arayir, represented by his poem “If I Must Die.” The volume features introductions by Judith Butler and Alberto Manguel, and is edited by Palestinian poet and translator Rima Ghneim. Also on the list is *Every Moment Is a Life: Gaza in the Time of Genocide*, which gathers writings from 18 young writers from Gaza, edited by Palestinian novelist Susan Abulhawa in collaboration with writer Hazama Habayeb. Academic Hamid Dabashi’s book *After Barbarism: Gaza, Genocide, and the Western Civilization Delusion* was also selected. Other titles on the list include Samer Saber’s *The Promise of Movement: The Emergence of Contemporary Palestinian Theater*, and Nora Merad and Mary Honorato’s *Resistance to Erasure: Libraries in Palestine and Palestine in Libraries*. The list also features Amira Kabil’s study on solidarity cinema in the United States, and Adam Johnson’s *How Is Genocide Marketed? Media Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza*. Additionally, Paul Colburn’s *Land and Documents: Agricultural Genocide and the Struggle for Justice in Palestine* and Mark Griffith’s *Barrier 300* on the colonial space in Palestine are included.

The Palestine Book Awards were launched in 2012 to celebrate new English-language books dealing with Palestine, covering fields such as academic studies, translation, creative writing, memoirs, and social history. In announcing the longlist, the awards committee stated, “Writing about Palestine is gaining increasing importance as Palestine continues to suffer heavy losses, destruction, and mass displacement. The importance of the written word is more evident than ever. In a time dominated by war and genocide, Palestinian voices continue to document, challenge, commemorate, and resist these events.” They added, “In a time when we are losing so much, these books remind us of the power of memory, knowledge, storytelling, and eternal truth.”