Ibtisam Barakat

Palestine

About

Ibtisam Barakat is a Palestinian-American author, poet, and educator born in Beit Hanina, near Jerusalem, and raised in the West Bank. Her childhood was shaped by the Israeli occupation and the experiences of displacement and conflict, which later became central themes in her writing. After moving to the United States, she pursued higher education and developed a career focused on literature, education, and cross-cultural understanding. Barakat is best known for her memoir Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood (2007), which recounts her experiences growing up during the 1967 Six-Day War and explores the effects of conflict on children and families. Her second memoir, Balcony on the Moon: Coming of Age in Palestine (2016), continues her story, focusing on education, identity, and the power of language. Through lyrical prose and personal storytelling, Barakat explores memory, resilience, belonging, and the human consequences of political conflict, making her work an important contribution to Palestinian literature and children’s literature.

Books on TheBookRoads

All genres Non-Fiction Memoir

All themes Coming of Age

Newest first Oldest first

Tasting the Sky

Tasting the Sky

Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood is a memoir recounting Ibtisam Barakat’s childhood during and after the 1967 Six-Day War. Growing up in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Barakat experiences the fear and confusion of war as her family flees their home, leaving behind the familiar world of her early years. Through the eyes of a young girl, she describes the uncertainty of displacement, the separation of families, and the emotional challenges of growing up amid political conflict. Despite the hardship surrounding her, Barakat discovers refuge in language, reading, and education, gradually finding ways to understand and express her experiences. Written in lyrical, accessible prose, the memoir captures how a child makes sense of violence and loss while holding on to curiosity and hope. It offers an intimate perspective on Palestinian history, exploring the relationship between memory, identity, language, and belonging, and demonstrating how storytelling can become a means of survival and self-discovery.

Country

Also from Palestine

Ghassan Kanafani