Diary of a spice seller

My name is Mohammed. I’m seventeen years old now, but the story I’m telling you began when I was fifteen. Before October 2023, I had dreams like all the other children around the world. I went to school where I studied hard and obtained good results. I was innocent – I didn’t know anything about the realities of life. My father worked as a taxi driver. Our family income was only enough to meet our daily needs.

I lived a simple life, like any boy my age, but despite its simplicity, it wasn’t easy. When I was fifteen, I began to work part-time on a chicken farm. I prepared food for the chickens and cleaned out their coops. It was difficult, but it was my first chance to work and I endured it. I was steadfast in my prayers and diligent in my studies. My ambition in life was to become a nurse. I wanted to help people. I didn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘displacement’, nor what it meant to lose your home, to sleep in the open or for life to become a struggle for survival. In this book, I will tell you my story as I lived it: as I felt it, with tears and laughter, with fear and hope. I don’t write to complain, but to remember, and to say that despite everything, we are still alive.

Diary of a Spice Seller combines memoir, poetry and diaries to tell the history of 700 days of genocidal war on Gaza, seen from the perspective of a Palestinian teenager. It is an unforgettable account that marks the debut of a gifted young writer.