February 24, Reading Palestine: Wild Thorns by Sahar Khalifeh

  February 24, Saturday (VIRTUAL)1pm New York  |  6pm London |  8pm Ramallah We continue to engage with the fight for Palestinian freedom by returning to the words of Palestinian writers themselves. Nowhere can we find more powerful expressions of resistance and the will to endure. Sahar Khalifeh (b. 1941) is one of the most important and prolific writers of our time. Wild Thorns is considered one of the first novels to explore daily life under the violent Israeli occupation. It has been translated into English by Trevor Le Gassick and Fernea, Elizabeth Warnock Fernea.  The novel is available pretty widely but Saqi Books released a new edition of the English translation with introduction by novelist Mohammed Hanif in August 2023. You can buy it here.  You can also read Mohammed Hanif's introduction to the novel's re-release on ArabLit here. About the novelPublished in 1976 as Al-Subar, Wild Thorns is the third novel by Sahar Khalifeh. A young Palestinian named Usama returns from workin