Description
The Sea Cloak is a collection of 11 stories by the author, journalist, and campaigner, Nayrouz Qarmout. Drawing from her own experiences growing up in a Syrian refugee camp, as well as her current life in Gaza, these stories stitch together a patchwork of different perspectives into what it means to be a woman in Palestine today. Whether following the daily struggles of orphaned children fighting to survive in the rubble of recent bombardments, or mapping the complex, cultural tensions between different generations of refugees in wider Gazan society, these stories offer rare insights into one of the most talked about, but least understood cities in the Middle East. Taken together, the collection affords us a local perspective on a global story, and it does so thanks to a cast of (predominantly female) characters whose vantage point is rooted, firmly, in that most cherished of things, the home. Translated from the Arabic by Perween Richards.
About the Author
Nayrouz Qarmout is a Palestinian writer and activist. Born in Damascus in 1984, as a Palestinian refugee, she returned to the Gaza Strip, as part of the 1994 Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement, where she now lives. She graduated from al-Azhar University in Gaza with a degree in Economics. She currently works in the Ministry of Women's Affairs, raising awareness of gender issues and promoting the political and economic role of women in policy and law, as well as the defence of women from abuse, and highlighting the role of women's issues in the media. Her political, social and literary articles have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines, and online. She has also written screenplays for several short films dealing with women's rights. She is a social activist and a member of several youth initiatives, campaigning for social change in Palestine.
Reviews
'All the arts are close to us because they allow us to recontextualise, to understand where we are, what we are, who we are. The Sea Cloak by Nayrouz Qarmout re-contextualises things so we really understand the world from the point of view we always knew was there.' - Ali Smith; 'Explosive, resonant images are conjured in Qarmout's confident, arresting voice.' - The Guardian
Awards
Winner of PEN Translates Award 2017. Short-listed for Edinburgh Interational Book Festival's First Book Award 2018.
Book Information
ISBN 9781905583782
Author Nayrouz Qarmout
Format Paperback
Page Count 112
Imprint Comma Press
Publisher Comma Press
About the Author
Nayrouz Qarmout is a Palestinian writer and activist. Born in Damascus in 1984, as a Palestinian refugee, she returned to the Gaza Strip, as part of the 1994 Israeli-Palestinian Peace Agreement, where she now lives. She graduated from al-Azhar University in Gaza with a degree in Economics. She currently works in the Ministry of Women's Affairs, raising awareness of gender issues and promoting the political and economic role of women in policy and law, as well as the defence of women from abuse, and highlighting the role of women's issues in the media. Her political, social and literary articles have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines, and online. She has also written screenplays for several short films dealing with women's rights. She is a social activist and a member of several youth initiatives, campaigning for social change in Palestine.
Reviews
'All the arts are close to us because they allow us to recontextualise, to understand where we are, what we are, who we are. The Sea Cloak by Nayrouz Qarmout re-contextualises things so we really understand the world from the point of view we always knew was there.' - Ali Smith; 'Explosive, resonant images are conjured in Qarmout's confident, arresting voice.' - The Guardian
Awards
Winner of PEN Translates Award 2017. Short-listed for Edinburgh Interational Book Festival's First Book Award 2018.
Book Information
ISBN 9781905583782
Author Nayrouz Qarmout
Format Paperback
Page Count 112
Imprint Comma Press
Publisher Comma Press
