Beginning on November 29, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, a weeklong event will foreground the plight and power of Palestinian cultural production amid the ongoing genocide in which Israel has killed over 44,970 people. The event, called Read Palestine Week (#ReadPalestineWeek), features online and in-person events across North America, Europe and the Middle East, beginning with a 24-hour global solidarity online reading group that begins and ends in Palestine.

“During this week, we encourage people around the world to read fiction and poetry by Palestinian and Palestinian diaspora authors, … nonfiction about Palestinian history, politics, arts, culture, and life, [and] books about organizing, resistance, and solidarity for a Free Palestine,” wrote Publishers for Palestine, the event organizers, in an announcement of the first annual Read Palestine Week last year. Publishers for Palestine is a global collective of more than 500 publishers, which first organized behind a solidarity statement in November 2023. This year’s event has also received support from dozens of bookshops and other partners, including Radical Books Collective and ArabLit.

“My Pen Is My Weapon Against the Occupation”: Palestinian writers resist Israel’s genocide by Marianne Dhenin, truthout, Nov 7, 2024