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Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear: Poems from Gaza
by Mosab Abu Toha - £11.99 City Lights Books (2022)
paperback
ISBN 13: 9780872868601 | ISBN 10: 0872868605
Winner of the American Book Award, the Palestine Book Award and Arrowsmith Press’s 2023 Derek Walcott Poetry Prize
National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry Finalist
“Written from his native Gaza, Abu Toha’s accomplished debut contrasts scenes of political violence with natural beauty.”-The New York Times
In this poetry debut Mosab Abu Toha writes about his life under siege in Gaza, first as a child, and then as a young father. A survivor of four brutal military attacks, he bears witness to a grinding cycle of destruction and assault, and yet, his poetry is inspired by a profound humanity.
These poems emerge directly from the experience of growing up and living in constant lockdown, and often under direct attack. Like Gaza itself, they are filled with rubble and the ever-present menace of surveillance drones policing a people unwelcome in their own land, and they are also suffused with the smell of tea, roses in bloom, and the view of the sea at sunset. Children are born, families continue traditions, students attend university, and libraries rise from the ruins as Palestinians go on about their lives, creating beauty and finding new ways to survive.
Accompanied by an in-depth interview (conducted by Ammiel Alcalay) in which Abu Toha discusses life in Gaza, his family origins, and how he came to poetry.
(Price & availability last checked: April 2025)
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