One Book, Many Communities Relaunching as Digital Reading Campaign (Librarians and Archivists with Palestine)

Librarians and Archivists with Palestine invites you to join our international reading campaign, One Book, Many Communities, to be held in May and June 2020. Our One Book title for 2020 is The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem.

Set in modern-day Jaffa and the greater Tel Aviv area, the story follows Alaa, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, and his friend Ariel, a Jewish Israeli. After Alaa disappears, Ariel finds Alaa’s journals. Alaa’s memory of his late grandmother, a survivor of the Nakba, confronts Ariel’s liberal Zionist convictions. Even in his absence, Alaa’s family memories create a dialogue with Ariel as the crisis of the mass disappearance unfolds.

This project draws inspiration from the “one book, one town" idea, wherein people in local communities come together to read and discuss a common book. This year, One Book will be a remote reading campaign in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please join us! Read more about the book here and see our toolkit for tips on hosting a book discussion online.