Isabella Hammad

Palestine

About

Isabella Hammad is a British-Palestinian novelist whose work explores history, displacement, identity, and the complexities of Palestinian life. Born in London to a Palestinian father and a British mother, she studied English literature at Oxford University before earning an MFA from New York University. Her debut novel, The Parisian (2019), follows a Palestinian man navigating the political and cultural transformations of the early twentieth century. The book won the Palestine Book Award, the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Betty Trask Award. Her second novel, Enter Ghost (2023), received the Aspen Words Literary Prize and the Royal Society of Literature’s Encore Award and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Hammad has also received prestigious literary fellowships and was named one of Granta magazine’s Best of Young British Novelists in 2023. Her writing has appeared in publications including The Paris Review and The New York Times.

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The Parisian

A young Palestinian man leaves home to study in France, believing the world is full of possibilities. But as war reshapes Europe and colonial rule transforms his homeland, Midhat Kamal discovers that belonging is far more complicated than he imagined. Beginning in 1914, this sweeping historical novel follows Midhat from the salons of Montpellier and Paris to Nablus, where British rule and rising nationalist movements challenge everything he thought he knew. Torn between cultures, romantic ideals, and conflicting loyalties, he must find his place in a world on the brink of transformation. Rich in historical detail and intimate human drama, The Parisian explores how personal lives become entangled with the making of nations—and how the past continues to shape the present.

Enter Ghost

What does it mean to perform a tragedy when your own life is shaped by one? After a painful love affair, British-Palestinian actress Sonia Nasir returns to Haifa to visit her sister, reconnecting with a homeland she has long kept at a distance. There, she joins a daring theatrical production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the occupied West Bank, playing Gertrude alongside a company of Palestinian actors determined to bring the play to life despite political restrictions, personal rivalries, and the daily realities of occupation. As rehearsals progress, Sonia begins to reconsider her relationship with Palestine, her family, and her own identity. Weaving Shakespearean tragedy with contemporary Palestinian experience, Isabella Hammad’s powerful novel explores displacement, resistance, and the transformative potential of art when simply telling a story becomes an act of defiance.

Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative

Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative

Who gets to tell a people’s story—and what happens when the world refuses to listen? In this powerful essay, Isabella Hammad examines how narratives shape our understanding of Palestine, political violence, and the struggle for freedom. Drawing on the work of Palestinian intellectual Edward Said, she explores how literature can challenge dominant perspectives, complicate simplistic political narratives, and make space for experiences that are too often overlooked. The book brings together Hammad’s 2023 Edward W. Said Memorial Lecture at Columbia University and a subsequent afterword written in early 2024, reflecting on the war in Gaza and the urgent struggle over how it is represented. A thoughtful meditation on storytelling, power, and moral responsibility, it asks readers to reconsider not only the stories they hear, but also the voices they may have learned not to recognize.

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