Why We Must Read Gaza: A Call to Read the New Issue of World Literature Today
In a world so loud with headlines, hashtags, and biased media, there are some voices that risk being drowned out, distorted and misrepresented until we make the space to truly listen.
That space has been made.
The latest issue of World Literature Today amplifies the voices of Palestinian writers from Gaza, poets, storytellers, truth-tellers, offering us not just words, but windows. Windows into lives under siege. Into resistance rooted in memory. Into love, defiance, grief, and hope that refuse to be erased.
This powerful issue is guest edited by Yousef Khanfar, renowned author and one of the world’s top ten international photographers. Don’t miss his compelling introduction, where he shares the deeply personal journey behind curating this landmark edition.
To capture Gaza’s voices is essential.
To honour them on a platform like World Literature Today, an internationally respected journal of literary excellence is even more powerful. It says:
Their stories matter. Their art matters. They matter.
In these pages, you won’t find passive victims or faceless statistics. You’ll find voices from the ground who choose the pen, canvas and words knowing it too is a form of resistance.
This is more than literature. It’s historical record. It’s witnessing. And for those of us committed to justice, and truth, it’s required reading.
If we believe in the power of story to humanise, to shift consciousness, to dismantle injustice, then reading these voices is not optional.
It’s an act of solidarity.
It’s a refusal to look away.
It’s a commitment to truth.
Let us read. Let us remember. Let us raise the volume on Gaza’s voices not as a fleeting moment, but as part of our ongoing, conscious engagement with the world.
Read the issue. Share the work. Discuss the stories.
Because when the world turns its back, literature can still bear witness.
