coastal lines press

PERSPECTIVES: “Beneath Gaza’s Stars” and “Midnight Thoughts in Gaza” rewire my associations with my own memories

This piece is a companion to the article: “I want people to understand”: Writers in Gaza publish zines through volunteer-led Coastal Lines Press I read Coastal Lines Press zines Beneath Gaza’s Stars by Heba Ali and Midnight Thoughts in Gaza by Mohammed Al-Bardawili with a deliberate slowness, trying to build pictures in my mind, trying to open my heart further and further like training a muscle.  I needn’t have tried so hard. Their words surrounded me with their sights, sounds, and thoughts in a way that rewired my associations with my own memories.  Pain, when woven into language, becomes a…

Read MorePERSPECTIVES: “Beneath Gaza’s Stars” and “Midnight Thoughts in Gaza” rewire my associations with my own memories

“I want people to understand”: Writers in Gaza publish zines through volunteer-led Coastal Lines Press

Audio excerpts of interview with Lama Alharazin, including Alharazin reciting her poem “Those who are still here” from her zine “Rain Was Once A Promise”: “During the war, I actually couldn’t find sense of the chaos around me. I was always looking for meaning in every displacement” says 24 year old writer Lama Alharazin over a Zoom call from Gaza City on August 30. “I was missing my home, I was missing my life, but I only found a way to make sense through writing. I started writing. I wrote about my home, my friends, the loss, the beautiful memories,…

Read More“I want people to understand”: Writers in Gaza publish zines through volunteer-led Coastal Lines Press