Between Estrangement, My Mom, and Gaza, Abdelfatteh Fadel / Zines from Gaza, Coastal Lines press

Originally written in Arabic, this short story fictionalizes heart-breaking conversations, shared between the author and his mother during the genocide. Separated by distance and dramatically different circumstances, the narrator marvels at his mother’s ability to ask about his health and comforts while she has no food or safe place to shelter. A tribute to the efforts of Palestinian mothers to support their children whilst trapped in Israel’s industrial death zones.

Editions: Bilingual zine (English and Arabic) and a German translation.

About the Author
Abdelfatteh Fadel is a student and writer who is learning how to heal bodies while trying to write his way through the pain inside himself. He writes when words are all he has left, when silence becomes too heavy to bear. Paper and pen are his way to survive, to say what cannot be spoken. In every line, he leaves a piece of himself and his thoughts, as if he is slowly healing from inside.