Thursday, February 19, 2026
3:00 PM – 4:15 PM
Note: Programming in Arabic
Join our WFP online reading where we highlight the new anthology, EVERY MOMENT IS A LIFE: Gaza in the Time of Genocide. This is the first collection of its kind, an Arabic-English bilingual anthology of essays from eighteen young Palestinian writers currently in Gaza trying to survive the genocide. Donations go to the Palestine’s Children’s Relief Fund and Palestine Legal.
In early 2024, writer and activist Susan Abulhawa managed to enter Gaza twice through the Rafah crossing. While there, Susan held a series of writing workshops at the Culture and Free Thought Association. The participants were young people who had been displaced to tent encampments, their lives marked by unrelenting Israeli violence and extraordinary loss—of home, family, safety, education, electricity, and all the structures of life. They’d fled from place to place as Israel’s colonial violence and deprivation chased them. Still, despite the bitterness of life in tents and the dangers of travel, they came together to share in the refuge of writing and community.
The result of those workshops, EVERY MOMENT IS A LIFE: Gaza in the Time of Genocide, is the first collection of its kind, an Arabic-English bilingual anthology of essays from eighteen young Palestinian writers currently in Gaza trying to survive the genocide.
Bios:
Susan Abulhawa is a novelist, poet, and activist. Her debut novel, Mornings in Jenin was translated into thirty languages, making Abulhawa the most widely read Palestinian author. Other books by her include The Blue Between Sky and Water, My Voice Sought the Wind, and Against the Loveless World. Born to refugees of the Six Day War of 1967, Abulhawa moved to the United States as a teenager, graduated in biomedical science, and established a career in medical science. In July 2001, Abulhawa founded Playgrounds for Palestine, a non-governmental children’s organization dedicated to upholding the Right to Play for Palestinian children. She lives in Pennsylvania.
Moderated by:
Huzama Habayeb is a Palestinian novelist and one of the most prominent contemporary voices in Arabic narrative fiction. She won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature for her novel Velvet, which was translated into English and selected among the fifty most significant Arabic novels of the twenty-first century.
Habayeb’s novels also include The Root of Passion (2007) and Before the Queen Falls Asleep, which was translated into English and regarded by critics as part of the major Palestinian narratives, for its epic depiction of the Palestinian refugee experience, particularly the Palestinian presence in Kuwait before the first Gulf War. Alongside her novels, Habayeb has published four short story collections and two poetry collections.
حزامة حبايب روائية فلسطينية، تُعدّ من أبرز الأصوات السردية العربية المعاصرة. نالت جائزة نجيب محفوظ للأدب عن روايتها “مخمل” التي تُرجمت إلى الإنجليزية، واختيرت ضمن أهم خمسين رواية عربية صدرت في القرن الحادي والعشرين. تتميز مخمل بلغتها الشعرية ورؤيتها الإنسانية للحياة الفلسطينية اليومية خارج الخطاب السياسي المباشر.
تضم أعمال حبايب الروائية “أصل الهوى” (2007) و”قبل أن تنام الملكة” التي تُرجمت إلى الإنجليزية، وصنّفها بعض النُّقاد ضمن السرديات الفلسطينية الكبرى، لما تنطوي عليه من معالجة ملحمية لتجربة اللجوء الفلسطيني، وتحديداً التجربة الفلسطينية في الكويت ما قبل حرب الخليج الأولى. إلى جانب أعمالها الروائية، تشمل مؤلفات حبايب أربع مجموعات قصصية، ومجموعتين شعريتين.
Anthology Contributors:
Reema Abu-Mousa is a pharmacist and is active in community health education.
ريما أبو موسى، صيدالنية، وناشطة في مجال التوعية الصحية المجتمعية.
Nebal Najjar, 28 years old, was born and lived all her life in Khuza’a, a village in the Khan Younis district. She is a survivor of four wars, now surviving the fifth, an evolving genocide. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Chemistry in 2015, and was a student of pharmacy before the genocide started. Between multiple displacements over the past two years, she began writing stories as an escape from the darkness and rubble around her.
نبال النجار، ذات الثامنة والعشرون ربيعًا ،ً نبت ُُت في قرية خزاعة مدينة خانيونس منذ السادس وعشرين من نيسان حتى اليوم، ناجية من أربع حروب، وها أنا أخوض َنهي ُُت متطلبات البكالوريوس الحرب الخامسة التي أجهل مصيري حتى نهايتها، َأ في تخصص الكيمياء التطبيقية في ال ٢٠١٥ م، واليوم طالبة كلية الصيدلة أحاول النهوض من وسط القيود والركام المحيط بنا، كاتبة قصة قصيرة علها تكون منفذي ٍ عميق يملؤه الشباك العنكبوتية. ٍ الوحيد لرؤية الضوء بعد المرور بكهٍف معتٍم
Diana Islayh is a university student studying literature, social science, and English. She is interested in music and literature, especially poetry, as well as all things to do with spirituality.
ديانا صليح، طالبة جامعية تدرس األدب والعلوم االجتماعية واللغة اإلنجليزية. لديها ً الشعر، اهتمام بالموسيقى واألدب، خصوصًا وبكل ما يتعلق بعالم الروحانيات
Khuloud Abu-Zaher is a youth activist, a graduate in Arabic language and media from Al-Azhar University. Her hobbies are sewing and fashion design, and she is passionate about community work.
خلود أبو ظاهر، ناشطة شبابية، حاصلة على درجة البكالوريوس في اللغة العربية واإلعالم من جامعة األزهر. من هواياتها الخياطة وتصميم األزياء، وهي شغوفة بالعمل المجتمعي
Ghassan Salam holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work with a concentration in Social and Family Development from Al-Quds University in Palestine. He has completed several professional trainings, including creative writing, elderly care, psychological counseling, women’s and human rights, and first responder skills.
غسان سالم حاصل على درجة البكالوريوس في الخدمة االجتماعية بتخصص التنمية االجتماعية واألسرية من جامعة القدس في فلسطين. وقد أت ّّم عدة دورات تدريبية تشمل الكتابة اإلبداعية، والتعامل مع المسنين، واإلرشاد النفسي، وحقوق المرأة وحقوق اإلنسان، إضافة إلى مهارات المستجيب األول.
Abdallah Al-Sayyed is a community activist who works at the Culture and Free Thought Association.
عبد الله السيد، ناشط مجتمعي، يعمل في جمعية الثقافة والفكر الحر.
