Every moment is life Gaza in a time of genocide

Best-selling author Suzan Abu al-Hawa has compiled a bilingual anthology (Arabic and English) featuring essays by eighteen young Palestinian writers trying to survive the genocide in Gaza. In early 2024, writer and activist Suzan Abu al-Hawa was able to enter Gaza twice through the Rafah crossing. There, at the Association for Culture and Free Thought, Susan held a series of workshops for young people displaced into tent camps. The lives of all participants were marked by ongoing Israeli violence and devastating losses - the loss of home, family, safety, education, electricity, and all the necessities of life. They fled from place to place while Israeli colonial violence surrounded them, accompanied by food and water insecurity and constant threat. However, despite the bitterness of tent life and the dangers of travel, they came together to find refuge in writing and communication. Samia recounts a touching moment with an old man repairing shoes on the street, while her cousin Saja hides books in her closet, hoping that she and her home will find them when she returns. Ghassan is haunted by the ghost of the child he saved from under the rubble, who became his son for a period of time. Fatima risks everything to retrieve her clothes from a dangerous area filled with drones and warplanes. Maram's loving aunt is gone, and chaos dominates Amr's mind. Samah, Lubna, Rizq, and Nibal take us on a journey through prosaic death, trails of tears, classroom shelters, and shared clothes in crowded tents. Every Moment is a Life presents rare and honest portraits of life in the shadow of genocide, highlighting the emerging voices struggling to survive in Gaza today. These articles are honest and realistic, capturing human moments - buying bread, going to the bathroom, eating together, drinking coffee - all against the backdrop of the first live-streamed ethnic cleansing in history. With incredible courage, anger, love, suffering, and hope, these gentle voices from Gaza will remain in our memories, embodied in these pages, forever.