Bassem Khandaqji, a Palestinian prisoner who has been held for 20 years, has won the 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his book “A Mask the Color of the Sky.”
The novel was selected from among 133 novels. This recognition is a victory for the Palestinian voice and the prisoners, who continue to write and exchange information from the revolutionary schools inside zionist prisons amidst escalated torture and repression.
Heroic prisoners such as Mahmoud Al-Aridah, Thaer Hammad, Hassan Salameh, and Abdullah Barghouti have all published books from within the prison walls: novels, reflections, historical accounts, and allegories for the struggle. Freed prisoner and leader Yahya Sinwar envisioned the future of liberation in his book “The Thorn and Carnation,” while martyred leader Walid Daqqah wrote accounts of the Battle of Jenin or the psychological war on prisoners. A popular book among prisoners is Struggle From the Darkness, which sheds light on zionist psychological tactics during arrest, interrogation, and imprisonment and how to stand steadfast against them.
The literary productions of the prisoners have been among the most prominent tools of struggle armed by the prisoners, despite all efforts by the occupation to erase the Palestinian narrative and voice.
Khandaqji (40 years old), from Nablus, was arrested in November 2004. In his last 20 years in prison, he has published two poetry collections, 250 articles, and several novels, a number of which have been translated to French.
He was subjected to a harsh interrogation, followed by a sentence of three life terms when he was 20 years old while he was a journalism and media student at Al-Najah University.
When his novel was nominated for the Booker Prize, Bassem was subjected to a failed smear campaign by zionist media. Yet, Bassem left his mark, contributing to the mountain of Palestinian literature despite his imprisonment and overcoming the challenges of publication from prison.
source: RNN