Toward a Liberatory Literature: Palestinian Writers in Conversation, Sponsored by Kundiman

Friday, March 6, 10:35 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. ET

Ballroom I, Baltimore Convention Center, Level 400

The struggle for liberation in Palestine and the genocide in Gaza have galvanized the world and reignited long-standing conversations around the global struggle for liberation. Join Kundiman for this special reading and conversation featuring Palestinian writers Sarah Aziza and Fargo Nissim Tbakhi. This panel will discuss the role of writers in displaced diaspora communities, how literature can disrupt narratives of empire and colonialism, and the histories of cross-community solidarities.

Sarah Aziza is a Palestinian American writer, translator, and artist with roots in ‘Ibdis and Deir al-Balah, Gaza. She is the author of The Hollow Half, a genre-bending work of memoir, lyricism, theory, and history exploring the intertwined legacies of diaspora, colonialism, and the American dream through and as the Palestinian body. The Hollow Half is a finalist for the Palestine Book Awards. Aziza’s other work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Best American Essays, The Baffler, Harper’s Magazine, Mizna, and The Nation, among others.




Fargo Nissim Tbakhi is a Palestinian performance artist and the author of Terror Counter (Deep Vellum, 2025) and Antigone. Velocity. Salt. (Deep Vellum, 2027).

Photo Credit: Jonathan Aprea


leena aboutaleb is an Egyptian and Palestinian writer who asks you to commit to the Palestinian liberation struggle. She is the author of THALASSA (Game Over Books, 2026). Her pamphlet, Expeditions of Projection, was released in 2023 (VIBE). Her film, Oracle, coproduced with Youssef ElNahas, debuted in Venice in 2025. She is a Brooklyn Poets fellow, Kundiman fellow, and Tin House scholar. Read her work at www.leenaboutaleb.onl.