A Map of Absence

By Atef Alshaer (editor),

Book cover of A Map of Absence: An Anthology of Palestinian Writing on the Nakba

Book description

A Map of Absence presents the finest poetry and prose by Palestinian writers over the last seventy years. Featuring writers in the diaspora and those living under occupation, these striking entries pay testament to one of the most pivotal events in modern history - the 1948 Nakba. This unique, landmark…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked A Map of Absence as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

As the Israel-Hamas conflict rages in 2024, Palestinian writers shed light on the trauma and violence of dispossession and colonization in this anthology translated from Arabic to English.

Through the controlled, curated form of poetry, eminent authors Mahmoud Darwish, Ghassan Kanafani, and Fadwa Tuqan join emerging writers, several of them women, in narrating the Palestinian experience from 1948, the beginning of the Nakba (Arabic for “catastrophe”) to today.

This book is about geography and identity, the ground beneath one’s feet and belonging, origins and history, displacement, and diaspora. There is longing everywhere in the book for what was lost—home, family,…

Want books like A Map of Absence?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 80 books like A Map of Absence.

Browse books like A Map of Absence

Book cover of When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman's Journey from War to Peace
Book cover of Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust
Book cover of Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,187

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in the Arab–Israeli conflict, Israel and Palestine, and Palestinians?

Palestinians 56 books