The author examines her Palestinian heritage and the challenges of finding her own identity in the midst of two conflicting cultures

Drops of This Story

Hammad, Suheir

Biographies & Memoirs

Writers & Readers

Poems examine the violence, racism, politics, and culture of the Middle East

Born Palestinian, Born Black

Literature & Fiction

Poetry

UpSet Press has restored to print Suheir Hammad's first book of poems, Born Palestinian, Born Black, originally published by Harlem River Press in 1996. The new edition is augmented with a new author's preface, and new poems, under the heading, The Gaza Suite, as well as a new publisher's note by Zohra Saed, an introduction by Marco Villalobos, and an afterword by Kazim Ali.

Born Palestinian, Born Black: & The Gaza Suite

UpSet Press

Poetry. With accompanying CD. Fresh from her Tony-Award winning stint in Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam on Broadway and a subsequent 51-city tour, Suheir Hammad has written her first collection of poetry since BORN PALESTINIAN, BORN BLACK, published when she was just 22 years old. ZAATARDIVA is poetry about love, politics and art, all coming out of Hammad's bag of zaatar. The poems in this collection are at once seductive and dangerous; they are possessed by a singular lyricism and awareness. "ZAATARDIVA summons through moments of lyrical insight and urbane wit, again and again, and before we know what has happened, we are hooked. Here's a poetry that urges a wholeness—a crossing of borders—as the personal is woven into the public, whereby a 'prodigal daughter' possesses her own knowing voice. Each poem in ZAATARDIVA is heart-driven by the urgent, raw orality of need. And, there is a glistening barb in each turn of phrase—a lure of quicksilver accuracy."—Yusef Komunyakaa

ZaatarDiva

Cypher Books

Poetry. In BREAKING POEMS Suheir Hammad departs from her previous poetry books with a bold and explosive style to do what the best poets have always done: create a new language. Using "break" as a trigger for every poem, Hammad destructs, constructs, and reconstructs the English language for us to hear the sound of a breath, a woman's body, a land, a culture, falling apart, broken, and put back together again. "Suheir Hammad's BREAKING POEMS introduces English to an Arabic vernacular that startles into being an altogether new language, bridging the archipelago of a Palestine under siege to the diaspora and beyond, breaking through convention, breaking open locks on mind and heart, breaking into a music inspired by the Coltranes, Sun Ra and free jazz, Lee Scratch Perry and Ravi Shankar, a music that is at once a joyous celebration of survival and a poignant cri de Coeur that cannot be ignored and that Mahmoud Darwish should have lived to see. This is a poetry written for people who have endured the winds of hurricanes and invasions. What wisdom, energy, joy and poignancy Hammad brings to the page—for all of this, and for teaching me a new speaking, I give her my thanks"—Carolyn Forché.

Breaking Poems

Writers from Alice Walker to Michael Ondaatje to Claire Messud share their thoughts on one of the most vital gatherings of writers and readers in the world.
The Palestine Festival of Literature was established in 2008 by authors Ahdaf Soueif, Brigid Keenan, Victoria Brittain and Omar Robert Hamilton. Bringing writers to Palestine from all corners of the globe, it aimed to break the cultural siege imposed by the Israeli military occupation, to strengthen artistic links with the rest of the world, and to reaffirm, in the words of Edward Said, "the power of culture over the culture of power."
 Celebrating the tenth anniversary of PalFest, This Is Not a Border is a collection of essays, poems, and sketches from some of the world's most distinguished artists, responding to their experiences at this unique festival. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, their gathered work is a testament to the power of literature to promote solidarity and hope in the most desperate of situations.
 Contributing authors include J. M. Coetzee, China Miéville, Alice Walker, Geoff Dyer, Claire Messud, Henning Mankell, Michael Ondaatje, Kamila Shamsie, Michael Palin, Deborah Moggach, Mohammed Hanif, Gillian Slovo, Adam Foulds, Susan Abulhawa, Ahdaf Soueif, Jeremy Harding, Brigid Keenan, Rachel Holmes, Suad Amiry, Gary Younge, Jamal Mahjoub, Molly Crabapple, Najwan Darwish, Nathalie Handal, Omar Robert Hamilton, Pankaj Mishra, Raja Shehadeh, Selma Dabbagh, William Sutcliffe, Atef Abu Saif, Yasmin El-Rifae, Sabrina Mahfouz, Alaa Abd El Fattah, Mercedes Kemp, Ru Freeman.

This Is Not a Border: Reportage & Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature

Holmes, Rachel

SHAMSIE, Kamila

DYER, Geoff

Achebe, Chinua

Crabapple, Molly

Brittain, Victoria

SPALDING, Linda

Mishra, Pankaj

PALIN, Michael

Darwish, Mahmoud

ONDAATJE, Michael

Hanif, Mohammed

Horner, John

Foulds, Adam

Mahfouz, Sabrina

Karmi, Ghada

SLOVO, Gillian

COLE, Teju

Abulhawa, Susan

Pavlić, Ed

Kanazi, Remi

Freeman, Ru

Kricorian, Nancy

Mahjoub, Jamal

Handal, Nathalie

Darwish, Najwan

Harding, Jeremy

Saif, Atef Abu

Kemp, Mercedes

El-Rifae, Yasmin

Keenan, Bridget

Dabbagh, Selma

Bseiso, Jehan

El-Khairy, Omar

Musleh, Maath

Muiz

COETZEE,J.M.

Shehadeh, Raja.

SUTCLIFFE, WILLIAM

Amiry, Suad.

WALKER,Alice

MANKELL, HENNING

MOGGACH, Deborah

Mieville,China

MESSUD, Claire

Historical

Bloomsbury USA

ZaatarDiva is poetry about love, politics and Brooklyn, all coming out of Hammad's bag of zaatar. The poems in this collection are at once seductive and dangerous; they are possessed by a singular lyricism and awareness, and her call to action has a major presence in her work.

Zaatar Diva

Rattapallax Pr

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