The first podcast from the Palestine Festival of Literature.
This is a format we’ve been wanting to bring to you for a long time.
The PalFest Podcast will highlight new books from and about Palestine, bringing writers together in conversation across borders to discuss new ideas and dig into vital histories.
Each episode will feature a different pairing of writers, presented by our co-hosts Beesan Ramadan and Mirza Waheed who, together, will guide us through these unique, essential conversations.
Find us on Apple Podcasts, Patreon, YouTube and everywhere else podcasts live.
Episode 1 - Batool Abu Akleen talks to Wiam El-Tamami about 48Kg.
For our very first conversation, we are incredibly lucky to have Batool Abu Akleen, a brilliant young poet from Gaza, in conversation with Wiam el-Tamami, Egyptian writer and one of Batool’s translators, speaking from Berlin. They discuss Batool’s debut collection of poems, 48Kg., which critics have described as ‘profound’, ‘vital’, ‘haunting’ and ‘an extraordinary book of poetry’.
This episode was recorded between Palestine & Germany on September 13th, 2025.
Episode 2 - Noor Hindi & George Abraham talk to Rachael Allen about Heaven Looks Like Us
Ahead of the UK launch of the new anthology of Palestinian poetry, Heaven Looks Like Us, on October 29th, we are thrilled to bring you George Abraham and Noor Hindi, the co-editors, in conversation with Rachael Allen, the poetry editor at Fitzcarraldo Editions.
This episode was recorded between Massachusetts, Detroit & London on October 6th, 2025.
Get tickets for the launch here, join Bookshelf here or get the anthology here.
In the third instalment of The PalFest Podcast we are excited to bring you Laleh Khalili, the esteemed professor and writer in conversation with the authors of Resisting Erasure: Capital, Imperialism and Race in Palestine; Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox & Rafeef Ziadah.
This episode was recorded between Exeter, Beijing, Liverpool and London on October 13th, 2025.
Episode 4 - Tareq Baconi in conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates about Fire in Every Direction
In this special live recording of The PalFest Podcast we bring you the launch of Tareq Baconi’s Fire in Every Direction: A Memoir. Baconi was joined by Ta-Nehisi Coates in a conversation about personal and political memoir.
This episode was recorded in New York at the Middle Collegiate Church on October 26th, 2025.
Episode 5 - Randa Abdel-Fattah in conversation with Sara Yasin about Discipline
Award-winning author, lawyer, human rights activist and community volunteer, Randa Abdel-Fattah in conversation with PalFest's own Sara Yasin.
They discuss Abdel-Fattah's new novel, Discipline and navigating racism and censorship within major media and academic institutions.
Discipline is the current pick on PalFest's Bookshelf subscription program, which you can subscribe to here.
This episode was recorded between Palestine and so-called Australia on November 17th, 2025.
Episode 6 - Isabella Hammad and Mirza Waheed on "Palestine and Kashmir"
In this live recording, Isabella Hammad and Mirza Waheed hold a unique discussion on Palestine, Kashmir and the parallels and divergences in their modern struggles with colonialism.
They discuss art and consciousness around the dual ruptures of 1948, reportage and narration of historical insurgency and their own roles as artists working from within the imperial core.
This episode was recorded at The Southbank Centre, London on November 1st, 2025.
Episode 7 - Nasser Abourahme in conversation with Edwin Nasr
“Israel is a defeated project.” So begins Nasser Abourahme’s monumental essay in PALESTINE IS EVERYWHERE.
Join us for the latest episode of the PalFest Podcast for a deep, structural analysis of Israel’s current strengths and weaknesses, the geopolitical shifts happening all around it and much, much more. It’s a fascinating conversation between Nasser and the book’s senior editor Edwin Nasr - and we’re thrilled to bring it to you for our 7th Episode.
Nasser is a writer and teacher, and currently assistant professor at Bowdoin College. He’s the author of The Time Beneath the Concrete: Palestine between Camp and Colony (Duke University Press, 2025).
Edwin is a writer and curator living in Berlin, his first short novel, Fears Eats Ali (Wendy's Subway and Wirklichkeit Books), is forthcoming.
This episode was recorded between New York and Berlin on November 12th, 2025.
Episode 8 - Yasmin Zaher and Saleem Haddad on Debut Novels
In a wide-ranging discussion the two writers compare notes on their experiences of publishing debut novels in English, how their work was packaged, presented and received - and the ways in which that diverged from their intentions when writing.
Saleem Haddad's GUAPA was published in 2016 by Europa Editions to great acclaim. His new novel, FLOODLINES, is about to come out.
Yasmin Zaher's THE COIN was published in 2025 and won the Dylan Thomas Prize - one of the most prestigious awards for young writers.
This episode was recorded between Paris and Lisbon on November 24th, 2025.
Episode 9 - Hala Alyan and Mai Serhan on Memoirs of Home
In our first episode of 2026 we bring you a discussion between two authors on their writing processes, identities and personal experiences. The conversation delves into the complexities of love, trauma, and survival in the face of conflict and displacement.
Hala Alyan's I'll Tell You When I'm Home was published in June 2025 by Simon & Schuster.
Mai Serhan's I Can Imagine It for Us was published in October 2025 by The American University in Cairo press and is the PalFest Bookshelf pick for February & March 2026.
This episode was recorded between New York and Cairo on February 2nd, 2026.
Episode 10 - Mahmoud al-Shaer in conversation with Beesan Ramadan & Mirza Waheed
Mahmoud al-Shaer has long been a key figure in the literary scene in Gaza - a scene that Israel has all but destroyed. He founded a cultural centre in Rafah and the online literary magazine, Magazine 28. He was PalFest's co-producer in Gaza in 2023.
During the genocide many thousands of people got to know Mahmoud through his writings, the painful chronicle of his family's separation, the brutal ordeal of survival under genocidal siege.
Much of those writings are now collected into A Year on the Abyss of Genocide (Arp Books).
Mahmoud was finally able to get evacuated from Gaza to Spain, where our hosts Beesan and Waheed talked to him.
This episode was recorded between Madrid, Ramallah and London on February 17th, 2026.
Episode 11 - Lina Mounzer and Jehan Bseiso on Writing through Crisis
Episode 11 of the PalFest Podcast: Lina Mounzer, writer, translator and Senior Editor at The Markaz Review in conversation with Jehan Bseiso, poet, translator, aid worker and member of the PalFest organising committee.
In this conversation the two writers discuss the unspeakable versus the unsaid, the emptiness of the word 'ceasefire' and pathways out of cynicism as well as sharing readings of their work and a new Agony Aunt for the Third World column.
This episode was recorded between Beirut and Cairo on February 23rd, 2026.
Episode 12 - Alaa Abd el-Fattah in conversation with Farah Barqawi
In this episode of the PalFest Podcast we have the writer and political theorist, Alaa Abd el-Fattah, in his first extended conversation since being released from prison in Egypt, with the poet and performer, Farah Barqawi.
In this wide-ranging conversation the two friends discuss shared memories of Gaza, where Farah’s family is from and where Alaa visited with PalFest in 2012, distance and alienation, personal crises and more. It’s a heartfelt, personal talk between two people who have not seen each other for many years and whose lives are among the millions upended by the ongoing colonial assault on the region.
This episode was recorded between London and New York on March 2nd, 2026.