And Other Stories has acquired The Book of Disappearance by Palestinian novelist and journalist Ibtisam Azem, translated from Arabic by Sinan Antoon.
Senior editor Tara Tobler bought UK, Europe and Commonwealth English language rights – excluding Canada – from University of Syracuse Press, and world translation rights (excluding Arabic, German, Hebrew and Italian) from the author.
Originally published in North America by the University of Syracuse Press, the book came to And Other Stories’ attention when commissioning editor Preti Taneja met the author in the West Bank for the Palestine Festival of Literature in early 2023.
The revised and updated edition of the book will be published in August 2024, and publisher Stefan Tobler – along with And Other Stories’ subagents – will represent the author’s translation rights.
“Alaa, a young Palestinian, is haunted by his grandmother’s memories of being displaced from Jaffa and becoming a refugee in her homeland,” the synopsis says. “Ariel, Alaa’s neighbour and friend, is a liberal Zionist, critical of the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza yet faithful to the project of Israel.
“When he wakes up one morning to find that all Palestinians have suddenly vanished, Alaa included, Ariel begins searching for clues to the secret of the collective disappearance; that search, and his reaction to it, intimately reveal the fissures at the heart of the Palestinian question.”
Azem said on the acquisition: “I grew up in a small town in historic Palestine and was lucky to have a grandmother and a father who related stories often. They preserved memory and protected our stories…
“I write these stories in Arabic against forgetfulness, but for a better future as well. When these stories are translated they acquire new wings and can fly beyond the skies of Palestine.”
Tobler added: “Azem has given us a story where memory and tense have the power to change everything. Her writing is gorgeous and her sense of place as lush, as gem-toned, as life-loving as the sea.”
