Palestinian human rights activist publishes memoir on Arab Spring
A Rebel in Gaza: Behind the Lines of the Arab Spring is a critical memoir documenting years of upheaval presents a compelling personal view of life in Gaza for progressive youth; Gaza has always been rebellious . . . stubborn, addictive. I’m her daughter, and I look like her.
Palestinian human rights activist and peace-prize winner Asmaa al-Ghoul offers a potent and intimate perspective on Gaza in her forthcoming memoir on the Arab Spring, detailing how she came into her own political and secular beliefs amidst the region’s relentless violence.
A Rebel in Gaza: Behind the Lines of the Arab Spring (early November 2018, distributed by Consortium) is the story of her evolution as a writer and influencer as told to Franco-Lebanese writer Selim Nassib in a collaboration to make known an overlooked aspect of Palestinian women’s hopes and dreams for themselves in an uncertain future.
Frequently criticized for being outspoken and challenging social mores, Al-Ghoul has been called “too strong minded.” As an activist, she has led demonstrations and been vocal in her opposition to Hamas and Fatah, which has led her to family strife, imprisonment, brutal interrogations, death threats and attacks. As a journalist, Al-Ghoul has risked her life while reporting on the war in Gaza, challenging radical Islamists, and witnessing the uprisings in Cairo’s Tahir Square.
Asmaa al-Ghoul in Rafah (2014). Photo courtesy of Fares Al Ghoul and Doppelhouse Press
Asmaa al-Ghoul is part of the explosion of journalists and activists using online media and social networking as tools for organizing around injustice. She has exposed human rights violations in Gaza in articles published around the world, including a powerful blog post entitled “Never Ask Me About Peace Again,” which was penned for Al Monitor after she lost nine family members to an Israeli missile strike targeting her uncle, who she learned was a commander in Hamas. After publicly confronting him, risking her life, Al- Ghoul finds a new voice and purpose, but also, dangerous enemies.
Selim Nassib, photo courtesy of Stefano Leone and Doppelhouse Press
Dedicated to liberation through writing, education and culture, A Rebel in Gaza portrays Al-Ghoul’s determination as she tries to open physical and psychological borders.
Asmaa al-Ghoul is a Palestinian journalist and author. Born in 1982 in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, and the eldest of nine siblings, Asmaa grew up in a society dominated by political strife, corruption and male chauvinism, but also by an incredible humanity.
Described by the New York Times as a woman “known for her defiant stance against the violations of civil rights in Gaza,” Asmaa al-Ghoul is currently living in Southern France working on her next book while maintaining a large social media following on her self-styled channel, where she has delivered some of her most important breaking news.
She has reported and authored articles for, among others, the Washington D.C.-based Al Monitor, Al Ayyam, Al Quds, Amine, and she opened the Palestinian office for the Emirati magazine Woman of Today.
At the age of 18, Al-Ghoul won the Palestinian Youth Literature Award. In 2010, she received a Hellman/Hammett award from Human Rights Watch, aimed at helping writers “who dare to express ideas that criticize official public policy or people in power.”
In 2012, Al-Ghoul was awarded the Courage in Journalism Award by the International Women’s Media Foundation. She works for Lebanon’s Samir Kassir Foundation, which lobbies for media freedom. Selim Nassib was born in Beirut in 1946. He is a journalist for Libération. A connoisseur of the Middle East, he is the author of the novels I Loved You for Your Voice and The Palestinian Lover (Europa Editions). He lives in Paris.
A Rebel in Gaza: Behind the Lines of the Arab Spring, One Woman’s Story
By Asmaa al-Ghoul and Selim Nassib
Translated by Mike Mitchell
5 x 7.75 inches, 206 pages.
Available in Early November 2018
9780998777023 hardcover $28.95
9780998777054 paperback $18.95
Published by Doppelhouse Press, 5012 Hartwick Street, Los Angeles, CA 90041
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Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
"I write about three topics, the Middle East, politics and life in general. I often take my life experiences and offer them in an entertaining way to readers, and I take on the toughest topics like the Israel-Palestine conflict and don't pull any punches about what I feel is fair. But, my priority is always about writing the good story."
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992. Hanania began writing in 1975 when he published The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper which was distributed through 12,500 Middle East food stores in 48 American States (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues for the Arab News in Saudi Arabia at www.ArabNews.com, Middle East Monitor in London, the TheArabDailyNews.com, www.TheDailyHookah.com and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has also published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday Newspaper in New York, the Orlando Sentinel Newspapers, and the Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Palestinian, American Arab and Christian, Hanania’s parents originate from Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
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