Books & Podcasts
At Planting The Seeds, we believe that education is an act of resistance. Understanding the roots of occupation, dispossession and colonialism is essential to cultivating justice — in Palestine, Sudan and the Congo, and everywhere people face violence and displacement.
For many in the UK, the Israeli occupation of Palestine is presented as a “conflict” between equals. In truth, it is a decades-long system of military occupation, apartheid, and forced displacement. To change the narrative, we must learn from Palestinian voices, decolonial historians, and children’s storytellers who speak truth with compassion and clarity.
Here are some powerful books and podcasts to help deepen your understanding — for adults, young people, and children alike.
Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
A heart-wrenching multi-generational account of one family's struggle and survival through the decades before and after Zionist colonization and theft of Palestine. Carrying us from Ein Hod to Jenin to Jerusalem, to Lebanon, then to the anonymity of America and finally back to Occupied Palestine, it is a novel of vital importance.
Fiction and Non Fiction Recommendations for Adults
Gaza: The Story of a Genocide Edited by Fatima Bhutto and Sonia Faleiro
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi
Line is Drawn by `Raja Shehadeh
Looking For Palestine by Najla Said
Shatila Stories by Nashwa Gowanlock
One State by Ghada Karmi
Going Home Raja Shehadeh
Rifqa by Mohammed El-Kurd
We could have been friends my Father and I - A Palestian Memoir by Raja Shehadeh
Objects from April and May by Zena Agha
The Moon That Turns You Back by Hala Alyan
Her First Palestinian by Saleed Teebi
We Are Not Numbers: The Voices of Gaza’s Youth by Ahmed Alnaouq
Evil Eye by Etaf Rum
Salt Houses by Hala Alyan
Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa
Minor Detail byAdania Shibli
The Sea Cloak by Nayrouz Qarmout
On Palestine by Noam Chomsky & Ilan Pappé
A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum
You Exist Too Much Paperback by Zaina Arafat
Poetry
Things You May Find Hidden In My Ear by Mosab Abu Toha
Enemy of the Sun: Poetry of Palestinian Resistance by Naseer Arur
Forest of Noise: New poems of hope and resilience by Mosab Abu Toha
The Tiny Journalist by Naomi Shihab Nye
We Call to the Eye of he Night by Hala Alyan & Zeina Hashem Beck
Affiliation Paperback By Mira Mattar
A Theory Of Birds by Zaina Alsous
The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World Hardcover by Antony Loewenstein
Fiction and on Fiction Recommendations for Children and Young Teens
Something More by Jackie Khalilieh
My Garden Over Gaza by Sara Musa
Palestinian kids books
Gaza Writes Back edited by Refaat Alareer
Homeland: My father dreams of Palestine by Hannah Moushabeck
A map for Falasteen, A Palestinian Child's Search for Home by Maysa Odeh
Kamal’s Key by Rifk Ebeid
Lana Makes Purple Pizza: A Palestinian Food Tale by Amanda Najib
Baba, What Does My Name Mean? By Rifk Ebeid
These Olive Trees by Aya Ghingneh
Sitti’s Olive Trees by NDAA HASSAN
My Garden over Gaza by Sarah Musa
They Called Me A Lioness: A Palestinian Girls Fight for Freedom by Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri
You Are the Colour by Rifik Ebeid
Everything Grows in Jiddo’s Garden by Jenan Matari
Palestinian Food Books
Bethlehem: Something More by Jackie Khalilieh
A Celebration of Palestinian Food Hardcover by Fadi Kattan
Dine in Palestine by by Heifa Odeh
As a charity rooted in justice, Planting The Seeds encourages supporters to purchase books from independent and ethical booksellers or Palestine Bookshops.
We discourage purchasing from Amazon and Waterstones, boycotting these corporations is one small, powerful act of solidarity — aligning how we read with what we believe.
