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We are still here
We Are Still Here
Book launch, We Are Still Here: An Anthology of Resilience, Grief and Unshattered Hope from Gaza’s Students
Join us for a powerful afternoon of poetry and insights from university students in Gaza, at the launch of We Are Still Here, a new anthology edited by Dr Jacob Norris and Professor Zahid Pranjol.
This event will bring together students, staff and the wider community to hear about the making of the book, listen to readings, and support students in Gaza through the purchase of the anthology.
Event details
Date: Saturday 7 February
Time: 1.30 to 3.30pm
Location: Friends Meeting House, 32 Friars Walk, Lewes, BN7 2LE
Chair: Dr Zahira Jaser, University of Sussex
About the book
Since the start of the unfolding atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza, carried out through settler-colonial violence, higher education institutions have been systematically destroyed. Campuses lie in ruins, academics and students have been killed or forcibly displaced, and what was once a thriving, intellectually vibrant student population now lives under daily threat of bombardment, forced starvation, and death. For nearly two years, students have been cut off not only from their universities, but from their dreams, their futures, and even their most basic sense of safety.
Yet despite this unimaginable trauma, many are still writing.
We Are Still Here is an anthology of these voices, raw, unfiltered, and courageous. It features short and long stories, poems, essays, and testimonies written by students from Gaza’s universities. These are not retrospective reflections or distant analyses, they are real-time words emerging from the depths of genocide, displacement, and grief. These writings may be their last hopes of reaching the world, a final act of resistance through expression.
The anthology is edited by Dr Jacob Norris, Co-Director of the Middle East and North Africa Centre at Sussex, and Professor Zahid Pranjol, Associate Dean (Education and Students) in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine. Published by Daraja Press in August 2025, the book offers a powerful record of student life, creativity and resilience under severe adversity.
What to expect
At this launch event you will:
• Hear from the editors about how the anthology came together
• Listen to readings from the book and explore its themes of creativity, hope and endurance
• Have the opportunity to buy copies of the book, with all proceeds going directly to the student authors in Gaza
There will also be:
• A book signing
• Artwork by the students
• A Palestinian market with gifts and cakes
Speakers
• Dr Jacob Norris, historian of Palestine and Co-Director of the Middle East and North Africa Centre (MENACS), University of Sussex
• Professor Zahid Pranjol, Associate Dean (Education and Students), Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine, University of Sussex
Support and more information
• Publication (Daraja Press): https://darajapress.com/publication/we-are-still-here/
• Support the project (Chuffed): https://chuffed.org/project/we-are-still-here
• Buy the book (Teemill store): https://we-are-still-here-students.teemill.com/
100% of proceeds support our students in Gaza, Palestine.