Translating "Gaza Writes Back" in Bulgarian

Dear Reader,

This campaign seeks your support for a translation project. The intention is to translate the collection of short stories “Gaza Writes Back”, edited by Dr. Refaat Alareer, into Bulgarian.

Dr. Refaat Alareer, a poet and a professor in comparative literature at the Islamic University of Gaza, was tragically killed by an Israeli airstrike on his sister’s home in Gaza in December 2023. The book presents stories by his students, narratives that convey imaginative tales, with pain true to life and disarming hope.

The US-based publisher Just World Books has generously agreed for online-only, free-access Bulgarian-language translation, provided we pay one-time royalties of $800.

There is no organization behind this initiative. The book is already being translated by a group of volunteers, most of whom are acclaimed and some award-winning translators who have generously agreed to commit their time and talent for free.

WHY THIS BOOK, AND WHY IN BULGARIAN?

In a time of great pain for the Palestinian community and specifically the unheard voices of those living in Gaza, the book offers a glimpse behind the wall into the lives of people who, like us, have aspirations and dreams but, unlike us, are deprived of realizing them. It stands against all sorts of perceptual distortions, including ugly stereotypes, we’ve seen circulating in the public discourse that accept and normalize the suffering of those who look different from us. This is troubling.

Encountering Otherness from the perspective of our own normative epistemology isn’t unique to Bulgarians, of course; we all tend to look for things that are familiar. But moving away from justifying or blaming why one identifies with those who are familiar or for historical guilt, the project has a better objective - to humanize Palestinians and break prejudices. The challenging of stereotypes starts from the title and content of “Gaza Writes Back”. Most of the stories are not only directly written in English but are also authored by women.

Last but not least, “Gaza Writes Back”, is a book edited by a humanist. In one of his students' own words, “Refaat taught us about the Holocaust and the danger of antisemitism. He wanted us to be aware of the struggle of different oppressed nations and extend our solidarity to them. He always asked us to correct ourselves when we confused Zionism with Judaism.”

It is important that all stories are properly edited for their new language realm. Any funds raised above $800 will go towards editing and the digital presentation of the book.

Thank you for reading that far, and for any support you may provide.

LINK to Dr. Alareer's obituary in Words Without Borders