Last night we hosted conversation with editors Matthew Teller and Mahmoud Muna talking about their new book Daybreak in Gaza, an incredible and insightful collection of stories of Palestinian lives and culture. They were joined by guests Jayyab Abusafia and Juliette Touma, contributors to this book.
Daybreak in Gaza is a record of extraordinary places and people, and of a culture preserved by the people themselves. Vignette of artists, acrobats, doctors, students, shopkeepers and teachers offer stories of love, life, loss and survival. They display the wealth of Gaza’s cultural landscape and breadth of its history.
Day break in Gaza humanises the people dismissed as statistics. It stands as a mark of resistance to the destruction and as testament to the people of Gaza.
‘A most significant collection, the timeliest of reminders of our common humanity and the irrepressible force of the written word.’– Philippe Sands
‘This astonishing book opened my eyes to the brutality that is being visited upon Gaza, and to the humanity of those suffering it. I hope we can all learn something – about steadfastness, about dignity – from them. Please read it.’
Brian Eno
‘These authors’ lives have been utterly devastated, but we can preserve their vital voices. Daybreak in Gaza must be shared with the world.’
Fatima Bhutto
About the editors & contributors:
Matthew Teller is a UK-based writer and broadcaster. He has written on the Middle East for the BBC, Guardian, Independent, Times, Financial Times and has produced documentaries for BBC Radio 4 and World Service. Teller is the author of Nine Quarters of Jerusalem: A New Biography of the Old City, which was a 2022 Telegraph Book of the Year.
Mahmoud Muna is a writer, publisher and bookseller from Jerusalem, Palestine. He runs Jerusalem’s celebrated Educational Bookshop and the Bookshop at the American Colony Hotel, both centres of the city’s literary scene. Muna is active in many cultural initiatives across Palestine and published the first Arabic edition of Granta magazine.
Juliette Touma is Director of Communication for UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Covering Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
Jayyab Abusafia is a London-based journalist from the Jabalia refugee camp in the north of Gaza. He was formerly Sky News Arabia’s senior reporter in London.
