'No other author has been as profoundly formative for me as Kanafani' - Mohammed El-Kurd, author of Rifqa

'I cannot think of a better collection to guide anyone seeking a moral role in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine' - Ilan Pappe, author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

Ghassan Kanafani (1936 - 1972) is perhaps the greatest Palestinian novelist, whose books including Men in the Sun and Returning to Haifa documented the horrors of war and occupation. He was also a leading political thinker, strategist and revolutionary. Here, his writings on politics, history, national liberation and the media are collected in English for the first time.

Featuring new commentary from leading writers, this collection is a testament to Kanafani's continuing relevance. His work remains a vital touchstone for revolutionary Palestinian struggle and anti-colonial thought.

About the Author
Ghassan Kanafani is one of the most well-known Arab writers and journalists of the past century. Born in Palestine in 1936, Kanafani and his family were forced to flee his homeland during the Nakba - after which he lived and worked in Damascus, Kuwait and finally, from 1960, Beirut. Kanafani was assassinated in 1972 by a car bomb planted by Israeli agents. His writings have inspired generations of Palestinians and those standing in solidarity with their cause. Louis Brehony is an award-winning researcher on political culture, musician, writer and activist. He is the author of Palestinian Music in Exile and director of the documentary film Kofia: A Revolution Through Music. Tahrir Hamdi is a Professor of Resistance Literature at the Arab Open University, Jordan. She is author of the prizewinning Imagining Palestine, and assistant editor of Arab Studies Quarterly.

Reviews

'Ghassan Kanafani is a giant for many reasons, foremost among them his unwavering commitment to class analysis and critique, and his mastery of these two transformative (but undervalued) political frameworks. Kanafani's revolutionary writings are as elucidating as they are incendiary, transcending the reductive identitarianism that often hinders revolutionary literature, transcending perfunctory symbolism and inaccessible jargon, and cutting through the noise of 'blind language.' No other author has been as profoundly formative for me as Kanafani, and I am certain this holds true for countless others-writers or otherwise, Palestinians and beyond. English-speakers are fortunate to access a fraction of his formidable erudition through this collection.'

-- Mohammed El-Kurd, poet, writer and journalist, author of Rifqa

'More than fifty years after his assassination, Ghassan Kanafani continues to educate, mobilise and advocate for Palestine. This collection of political works emphasises that he is as relevant today as he was in the 1960s and 1970s.'

-- Ghassan Abu Sittah, award-winning surgeon, humanitarian and educator

'A timely collection of one of Palestine's foremost intellectuals and leaders. I cannot think of a better collection to guide anyone seeking a moral role for the Left today in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine. Kanafani's fusion of humanism, universalism and commitment to Palestine will eternally serve us a model in our own struggle for a free Palestine.'

-- Ilan Pappe, historian and author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

'A powerful clutch of writings by Palestine's most well-known militant intellectual on topics that remain relevant today. Places Kanafani squarely among the most brilliant and intellectually agile anti-colonialist and revolutionary intellectuals of the twentieth century'

-- Stephen Sheehi, co-author of Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine

'In the current historical moments, as the Zionist settler colonial project finds no means to deter the Palestinian from resistance except through the total eradication of the Palestinian material and political being, arises the importance of reading the theoretical and political works of Ghassan Kanafani. This book is a necessity for revolutionary subjectivities aspiring for liberation.'

-- Lena Meari, Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences and the Institute of Women's Studies, Birzeit University



Book Information
ISBN 9780745349374
Author Ghassan Kanafani
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Pluto Press
Publisher Pluto Press
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 140mm * 22mm