Hanan Awwad

Hanan Awwad is a prolific author who has devoted her life to teaching, writing, and advocating for Palestinian independence. She believes that poetry is a way to bring about change, give a voice to Palestinians, and promote peace.

Awwad was born in Jerusalem on August 13, 1951. There she spent her early childhood, and it was during these formative years that she developed the love of and loyalty to the city that would underscore her future literary and political career. From a young age, she explains, Jerusalem taught her the meaning of home.1

She was one of seven children, three boys and four girls. Awwad’s father, who greatly influenced her character, was a central figure in her life and the source of much of her inspiration: “He imparted to me tenderness, knowledge, freedom, and a refusal to succumb to the impossible and he fortified me with confidence.”2

She recalls listening to the famous song “Amjad ya ‘Arab, amjad” [You are glorious, O Arabs, glorious] while watching the news with him.3 He would invite her, even as a young girl, to sit with him and his friends, mostly writers and politicians, as they discussed current state affairs and the future of Palestine. 

Likewise, Awwad’s mother played an important role in informing her political consciousness. Her encouragement drove Awwad to succeed in her literary career and other aspects of her life. Both parents taught her discipline, commitment, graciousness, dignity, and love for one’s home and country.

As a young girl, Awwad would listen to all of then Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser’s speeches. She became captivated with the idea of Arab unity. She memorized the slogans of Arab resistance movements and repeated them in school or whispered them to herself when alone. Awwad also memorized songs about Palestine, revolution, and peace. She tried her hand at writing her own poetry and was encouraged to do so by her teachers.

Awwad’s father encouraged her pursuit of higher education. After she graduated from the Ibrahimiyya high school in Jerusalem, she earned her first diploma in education in 1971 from Dar al-Mu‘allimat in Ramallah.4

In 1974, she received her BA in Arabic language and literature from Beirut University. Two years later, she obtained a diploma in literary criticism from Cairo’s al-Azhar University.

She went on to pursue three additional degrees. In 1977, she received an MA in Arabic literature and humanities from the Institute of Asian and African Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Awwad recalls, “I ascended the graduation platform with pride, for I was the only Palestinian who attained this degree.”5

After that, she applied to study abroad. Almost all her friends and colleagues advised her not to travel, arguing that it was better to study at home, but she rejected their advice. She was accepted into both Oxford and McGill universities and headed first for Oxford.

Awwad’s parting from Jerusalem was a sad one. She recalls kissing her siblings while they slept before her departure and weeping. Years later, she described her thoughts as her father took her to the airport:

She looked at the streets in an almost-panicked state, trying to commit their details to her memory. Her mother’s words to her before she left were, “Safeguard the dignity of your identity and your pride until the very last moment of your life.”7 Her father’s advice was, “keep going, don’t look back, and learn how to achieve the greater goal.8

Awwad obtained an MA in English literature from Oxford University in 1977, after which she moved to Montreal, Canada, to begin a doctoral degree in literature at McGill University.

Awwad’s family back in Jerusalem was her anchor. Awwad called them day and night, drawing her strength and resolve from their words.

While still settling into McGill, Awwad began to look for “everything that was Arab.”9 She made Arab friends, joined the Arab Student Union, acquainted herself with Arab faculty, and thought of Jerusalem, even as she dealt with the crushing pressure of homesickness. She also busied herself with writing for several newspapers, all of which noticed her literary abilities from earlier pieces she had written back in Jerusalem. She kept up her writing for al-Sha‘b, a newspaper that employed her upon her graduation from high school. She started a new column, “A Letter from Canada,” while also starting a column in an Arabic Canadian newspaper called al-‘Alam al-‘Arabi (The Arab World). Apart from these two newspapers, she also wrote for the Jordanian al-Akhbar.

In addition to her journalism, Awwad was employed both as a teaching assistant at the university and a researcher at the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the National Museum of Man.

In 1981, she received her PhD degree. Her dissertation examined the image of women in the works of Ghassan Kanafani, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) spokesperson, novelist, short story writer, and painter who was assassinated by Israel in Beirut in 1972.

After completing her doctorate at McGill, Awwad returned to Jerusalem, where she was appointed Head of the Department of Cultural Studies at Abu Dis College in Jerusalem (later merged into Al-Quds University in Abu Dis). She served as head of the department from 1982 until 1986, after which she became Head of the Humanities Department.

Awwad’s first-ever article was published in the local al-Quds Arabic newspaper, which she wrote just after completing high school. The piece gave an account of Palestine’s affairs under its current occupation. Awwad remembers little of what she wrote, but she recalls, “I awoke, and I wish I had not. It was like being in a deep dream, drawing a line toward the future only to see darkness envelop my city.”10 The article ended with an analysis of several important books, including one written by her teacher and Arab columnist in East Jerusalem, Mohammed Abu Shilbaya. Writing the article, she remembers her intense sense of indignation at the injustice inflicted upon her home. This article represents the beginning of her literary fervor and future career, what she calls her “journey of the pen.”11

Soon after, she was contacted by another newspaper, al-Sha‘b, and offered a regular daily column. Awwad titled her column, “In My Blood I Write.” The column was censored in degrees by the Israeli authorities, until it ceased to be. However, the collection was later published in a book bearing the same title.

Awwad’s literary career grew in proportion with the broader expression of Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation. She wrote to give a voice to the ongoing resistance.

While she wrote extensively for newspapers, especially in her early career, Awwad was predominantly a poet, and this is where her talents and passions become pronounced. Her style is characterized by a merge of sacred and profane imagery. In addition to struggle and resistance, common themes include Palestinian freedom, dignity, and human rights. Almost as a tribute to her childhood listening to music with her father, her poetry blended popular Palestinian slogans and odes. Even though she mainly wrote for an Arab audience, Awwad tried to address the world through her verses, bridging between nations. She used all of these techniques as an avenue to explore Arab identity more broadly and how it interacts with the past and modernity.

Awwad’s writing tackled gendered experiences as well as Arab society as a whole more generally. Common themes she returned to were persecution, oppression, love, solidarity, and peace.

Her works have been translated into many languages, including English, French, Italian, and Spanish.

Awwad’s political activism stems from her belief that Palestinian independence is only lost because of the systematic violation of international law.12

Awwad strongly believed that Palestinian independence and the preservation of national identity lay in education, freedom of expression, and cultivating the minds of future generations. To this end, she founded several organizations to serve Palestinian and literary causes. Some of these organizations operate in Jerusalem and are directly concerned with the city’s social and cultural development.

In 1988, she founded the Palestinian section of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Its mission is to advocate for peace and end Israeli occupation.

From 1998 to 2004, Awwad served as the cultural advisor of Palestinian president Yasser Arafat. In that role, she often spoke on behalf of President Arafat at press conferences as well as cultural events. Awwad led a Global Solidarity Movement in support of the former president during the siege of June 2002, when his headquarters were surrounded by the Israeli army for five days.13 When Arafat died, Awwad wrote a eulogy, “The Strain of Departure,” which included these lines:

Awwad served as General Manager of Arafat’s office affairs. In this capacity, she served as member of the Palestinian National Council as well as cultural advisor of the Governorate of Jerusalem and its Ministry of Media.

Awwad founded two unions, one for writers and another for journalists, and, in 1992, the PEN Centre for Palestinian Writers in Jerusalem. The PEN Centre promotes free speech and protect persecuted writers. Since 1992, Awwad has headed the Palestinian Council for Global Ratification & Elections Network.15

Jerusalem is the source of Awwad’s inspiration. She has said that she always tries to capture the city in her works—its sounds, colors, and smells—but its essence always escapes her.16 In both poetry and prose, Awwad tried to represent the variegated human experiences of Jerusalem, not just its struggles.

Awwad considers Jerusalem her holy city, which she says shaped her cultural, literary, and political identity and imbued her with her spirit and love for freedom.17 The city enthralled and influenced her differently at different phases of her life. “In my daily poems and writings,” she says, “Jerusalem traverses the aroma of soul and manifests upon creative horizons through assembled texts that both have and imbue life.”18 For Awwad, Jerusalem represented the very heart of the revolution. She writes in her poem “The Last Words”:

And in “The Strain of Departure”:

Awwad’s work underscores the importance of weaving resistance in creative and cultural production. What comes across in her writing is her love for the Arab world and her loyalty to her home. This is clear from her careful descriptions that pay attention to the minutest details of human emotion, and the world she tries to capture. Awwad’s first-hand experiences allow her to give her subjects a voice that is sincere and heartfelt.

Awwad’s public life and career earned her the titles “Ambassador of the Intifada” and “Lover of the Nation.”

She received a number of awards, including the Italian Literary Award in 2004, the Turkish Award of Merit in 2004, and the Award of Distinction from Japan’s Academy of Art.

Arab Causes in the Fiction of Ghada al-Samman. Quebec: Editions Naaman, 1983.

Fi al-bad’ anti Filastin [From the start, you are Palestine]. Ramallah: Dar al-Shuruk, 2004.

Episodes of the Siege. Lahore: Sange-e-Meel Publications, 2014.

Dhakirat al-taraf al-narjisi: qanadil ‘ala nafidhat al-‘umr [Memoirs of opulent narcissism]. Haifa: Maktabat Kullu Shay’, 2021.

The Strain of Freedom. Self-published, XXX, 2021.

“An Interview with the Palestinian Writer Dr. Hanan Awwad.” [In Arabic.] Watan, September 16, 2020.

Awwad, Hanan. “The Doors of Freedom Open Anew with the Pen of Hanan Awwad.” [In Arabic.] Dunya al-Watan, March 25, 2017.

“Hanan Awwad.” All4Palestine. Accessed October 27, 2023.

“Hanan Awwad, Palestine.” Festival Internacional de Poesia de Medellin, December 2021.

“Hanan Awwad, Palestinian Poet and Activist.” Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, June 16, 2008.

“Publication of the Book Memoirs of Opulent Narcissism by Hanan Awwad.” [In Arabic.] Dunya al-Watan, February 2, 2021.

al-Qazzaz, Muhammad. “Memoirs of Opulent Narcissism: Stories about the Struggle of [Yasser] Arafat and Palestinian Women.” [In Arabic.] al-Ahram, June 1, 2021.