When The Bulbul Stopped Singing

A diary of life under siege in Palestine, from the Orwell-prize winning and National Book Award-longlisted author and human rights activist

Praise for Raja Shehadeh: Shehadeh writes with great clarity and simplicity, but no bitterness, more in sorrow than in anger about the unhappy history of his family and country

In his moral clarity and baring of the heart, his self-questioning and insistence on focusing on the experience of the individual within the storms of nationalist myth and hubris, Shehadeh recalls writers such as Ghassan Kanafani and Primo Levi

A buoy in a sea of bleakness

Luminously clear-sighted ... By turns lyrical, witty and shrewd, Shehadeh is an excellent companion

Raja Shehadeh is Palestine's leading writer. He is also a lawyer and the founder of the pioneering Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq. Shehadeh was a National Book Award finalist in 2023 and is the author of several acclaimed books published by Profile, including the Orwell Prize-winning Palestinian Walks. He lives in Ramallah.