Palestinian Novel Longlisted for 2025 Int'l Booker Prize

It is a fantasy novel imagining a world where Palestinians have disappeared.

Publish date: Wednesday، 26 February 2025

Palestinian Novel Longlisted for 2025 Int'l Booker Prize

The Palestinian novel 'The Book of Disappearance' by Ibtisam Azem has been longlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize.

The fantasy novel imagines a world where Palestinians have disappeared and is Azem's second novel, which was first published in 2014.

The Palestinian author's novel was originally written in Arabic and has been translated into English by Sinan Antoon.

When revealing the longlist, the judges for the prize said that the Palestinian novel is "an unforgettable glimpse into contemporary Palestine as it grapples with both the memory of loss and the loss of memory."

They also said, "Speculative and haunting, this is an exceptional exercise in memory-making and psycho-geography."

'The Book of Disappearance' is about a young Palestinian man named Alaa who recounts the death of his grandmother. She had survived the 1948 Nakba, but was displaced from her birthplace Jaffa.

Alaa's friend, Ariel, a liberal Zionist who criticizes the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, but is faithful to Israel's project.

One day, Alaa wakes up to find that all the Palestinians have suddenly disappeared and she sets out to investigate their collective disappearance.

Ibtisam Azem was born in Jaffa and later on, moved to study in Germany, but she currently lives in New York.

The International Booker Prize, the companion award to the flagship Booker Prize, recognized works translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland.

The shortlist of six books will be announced on Apr. 8 and the final winner will be announced on May 20 in London who will be awarded a £50,000 prize.

This article was previously published on omanmoments. To see the original article, click here

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Palestinian Novel Longlisted for 2025 Int'l Booker Prize

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