Naomi Wallace

Ismail Khalidi

You haven't asked, but yes, you both may stay in our house for the time being. And use our things. I figure it'll take a war to settle it all. A compelling story of two families - one Palestinian, one Israeli - forced by history into an intimacy they didn't choose. In 1948, Palestinian couple Said and Safiyya fled their home during the Nakba. Now, in the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War, the borders are open for the first time in twenty years, and they dare to return to their home in Haifa. They are ready to find someone else living where they once did, but nothing can prepare them for the encounter they both desire and dread with the son they had to leave behind. Ghassan Kanafani's classic novella Returning to Haifa has been adapted for the stage by Naomi Wallace and Ismail Khalidi. The play premiered at the Finborough Theatre, London, in February 2018 to coincide with the seventieth anniversaries of both the Nakba or 'catastrophe' - the mass dispossession of the Palestinians in 1948 - and the foundation of the State of Israel.

Returning to Haifa

Joe Sacco

Eileen Myles

Bao Phi

Naomi Shihab Nye

Ahdaf Soueif

Natalie Diaz

Hisham Matar

Yazan Khalili

George Abraham

Hala Alyan

Najwan Darwish

Sahar Mustafah

Kevin Coval

Marc Lamont Hill

Khaled Mattawa

Jehan Bseiso

Nathalie Handal

Fargo Tbakhi

Ed Bok Lee

Donal O'Kelly

Fady Joudah

Zaina Alsous

Najla Said

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha

Lina AlSharif

Janan Alexandra

Zeina Azzam

Bryonn Bain

Summer Farah

Mandy Shunnarah

Marking seventy years of displacement and occupation in Palestine, Mizna presents The Palestine Issue, centering the Palestinian struggle for liberation and the rich literature it has spurred, guest edited by playwright and poet Ismail Khalidi. Acclaimed authors engage with seven decades of resilience and creativity in the face of catastrophe, sharing work that combats erasure by remembering, as well as by imagining possible (and impossible) futures.

The Palestine Issue

Mizna

Ismail Khalidi

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