About the Palestine Book Awards

The Palestine Book Awards began in 2012 to honour every year the best new books in English about any aspect of Palestine. Every year more books have been submitted from a wide variety of publishers. We are glad to be a part of the efforts to bring Palestinian literature, research work, and poetry to audiences across continents, and give a platform for writers to meet audiences, discuss their work with other writers and academics, and be more widely known and appreciated.

Nominations open in January at the start of every year, with submissions welcome from all publishers, or individual authors. Usually, six or seven books are shortlisted for three categories: Academic, Memoir and Creative. The books are chosen by a panel of judges who often choose to stay for two or more years. Further information on the current judges can be found at the judges section of the website. Details of the previous books submitted and the winners over the years are also on the website.

Every November there are two events to honour the shortlisted authors, the first where they discuss their books together at an open evening. Second, there is a dinner evening by invitation where the winners are announced and presented with their prize. The dinner brings together guests from many areas interested in Palestine - including academics, ambassadors, writers, publishers, journalists, Members of Parliament, and frequent visitors to Palestine.