Mahmoud M Al-Shaer – I Am Still Alive: Dispatches from Gaza
In I Am Still Alive: Dispatches from Gaza, Palestinian poet and cultural worker Mahmoud M Al-Shaer documents life during the ongoing war in Gaza with breathtaking clarity and devastating intimacy. Composed as a series of dispatches written since January 11, 2024, the author uses his voice to record his struggle to hold onto words in resistance to erasure and whilst bearing witness to unbearable violence. These texts offer not just a relentless chronicle of destruction, but a vital affirmation of presence, relation, and survival amidst the unspeakable catastrophes unfolding in Gaza. From the wreckage of homes and futures, Al-Shaer builds language as shelter—raw, lyrical, defiant. His writing refuses the daily cruelty imposed by war and human rights violations, and demands the world pay attention. Each page pulses with an utterance that insists: I am still alive. Mahmoud M Al-Shaer has dedicated this book to his three-year-old twins—Nai and Majd—now separated by nearly 1,000 kilometers and exposed to different traumas. All proceeds from the sale of I Am Still Alive (available in print and ebook formats) will go to the author to support his family and other Palestinians.