Extraordinary Rendition: American Writers on Palestine - Softcover

Freeman, Ru (ed.)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1566560608 ISBN 13: 9781566560603

Publisher: Olive Branch Press, 2016

Synopsis

Sixty-five writers contribute to groundbreaking anthology on Palestine.

This collection brings together the work of sixty-five prominent writers to examine America's culpability in the denial of human rights and dignity to Palestinians in Israel/Palestine and beyond.

It includes pieces by writers such as Chana Bloch, Marilyn Hacker, Jane Hirshfield, Colum McCann, Claire Messud, Roger Reeves, George Saunders and Alice Walker. In writing that is always clear, and often startlingly beautiful, they cover a range of issues including the erasure and reconstruction of histories, the examination of identity, the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of speaking out as artists, the conditions of occupation, and the potential for activism. They also explore the way U.S. foreign policy towards Palestine regularly mirrors the harsh realities faced by many of America's own minorities.

The anthology as a whole counters the dehumanizing narrative about Palestine that has taken hold in the United States, often supported by mainstream news organizations, and makes a significant contribution toward an understanding of the ways people of conscience in general, and writers in particular, can take on one of the most pressing political questions of our time.

All of the writers donated their fee to the Palestinian Festival of Literature, which is also the partial beneficiary of the proceeds of book sales.

Contributors include: Corban Addison, Mariana Aitches, Xhenet Aliu, Ammiel Alcalay, Kazim Ali, Sinan Antoon, Phillip B. Williams, Kafah Bachari, Frank Barat, Matt Bell, Dwayne Betts, Chana Bloch, Nate Brown, Hayan Charara, Teju Cole, Michael Collier, Ted Conover, Ramola Dharmaraj, Marlene Dumas, Mary Jane Nealon, Duranya Freeman, Tess Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Suzanne Gardinier, David Gorin, Marilyn Hacker, Nathalie Handal, Jane Hirshfield, Fanny Howe, Leslie Jamison, Kim Jensen, Lawrence Joseph, Nancy Kricorian, Rickey Laurentiis, Kiese Laymon, Farid Matuk, Colum McCann, Askold Melnyczuk, Christopher Merrill, Claire Messud, Philip Metres, Peter Mountford, Susan Muaddi Darraj, Dina Omar, Alicia Ostriker, Ed Pavlic, Tomas Q. Morin, Roger Reeves, Alice Rothchild, George Saunders, Jason Schneiderman, Sarah Schulman, Alan Shapiro, Robert Shetterly, Naomi Shihab Nye, Tom Sleigh, Ahdaf Soueif, Adam Stumacher, William Sutcliffe, Janne Teller, Philip Terman, Diego Vazquez Jr., Alice Walker, Steve Willey, Tiphanie Yanique, and Clarence Young.

About this title

About the Author

Ru Freeman is a Sri Lankan born author and activist whose creative and political writing has appeared internationally. She is the author of the novels A Disobedient Girl (Atria/Simon & Schuster, 2009) and On Sal Mal Lane (Graywolf, 2013), a New York Times Notable, and Editor's Choice Book. Both novels have been translated into several languages including Italian, French, Hebrew, and Chinese. She blogs for the Huffington Post on literature and politics, is a contributing editorial board member of the Asian American Literary Review, and has been a fellow of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She is the 2014 winner of the Sister Mariella Gable Award for Fiction, and the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for Fiction by an American Woman.

Review

Extraordinary Rendition reminds us of the power of art and the necessity of literature. In stories, essays and poems that are as varied and diverse, contradictory and complicated as we are, the writers in this deeply humane anthology shed light and bear witness to the one of the complex conflicts of our time. Ru Freeman has made a book unlike anything I've ever read. It s a great contribution to not only to the conversation about Palestine, but to the larger one about peace and justice. --Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild

Edition details

• Publisher: Olive Branch Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1566560608
• ISBN 13: 9781566560603
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 452