Elegie für das letzte Licht – Book launch
With: Batool Abu Akleen, Haidar Al-Ghazali, Maha El Hissy & Husam Maarouf
When at the center of international public attention, Gaza is most often represented through statistics of destruction and loss. The anthology Elegie für das letzte Licht (Elegy for the Last Light), edited by Maha El Hissy and Husam Maarouf and published by S. Fischer Verlag, brings together literary texts written over the past three years by around twenty authors from Gaza.
For the book launch, Batool Abu Akleen and Haidar Al-Ghazali, two young poets from Gaza who have been living in exile in France and Italy for a short time each, will give readings. Editor Husam Maarouf will participate from Gaza via a prerecorded video contribution. Abdalrahman Alqalaq has developed the dramaturgy for an evening that will also feature numerous additional texts from the anthology.
The texts have been translated into German from Arabic by Sandra Hetzl and from English by Nouria Behloul. Further information about the event is available on the Haus für Poesie website.
Tuesday, December 1
Kuppelhalle
Doors: 7 pm / Start: 7 pm
Tickets or at the door
Batool Abu Akleen, born in 2005, is a Palestinian poet and translator from Gaza City. At the age of fifteen, she won the Barjeel Poetry Prize. Her work has been translated into several languages and published in numerous international publications. Following her evacuation from Gaza in autumn 2025, she began studying at Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris. In June 2026, she appeared as a guest at the Poetry Festival Berlin.
Haidar Al-Ghazali, born in 2004, grew up in Gaza. He studies English literature and translation at the Islamic University of Gaza. His poems have been translated into eight languages and published on various international platforms. He currently lives and studies in Italy.
Abdalrahman Alqalaq, born in 1997 in the Yarmouk refugee camp near Damascus, is a Palestinian poet, writer, and performance and theatre artist. He studied cultural studies, aesthetic practice, and theatre studies in Hildesheim, Rabat, and Berlin. His poetry debut, Übergangsritus, was published by Wallstein Verlag in 2024. Most recently, his play “Absentee Law” was shortlisted by the jury of the 2026 Körber Studio Junge Regie festival at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg.
Maha El Hissy, born in Alexandria in 1980, is a literary scholar, curator, and moderator. She has taught modern German literature in Munich, Cairo, London, and New York. She is the editor of the anthology Die ganze Geschichte fasse ich an der Hand (Verbrecher, 2025) and curated the literary series Vorzeichen (2024) as well as the Arabic-language podcast Ne7ki (2025). El Hissy serves on several award juries, including those of the German Book Prize and the International Literature Award presented by the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. She lives and works in Berlin.
Husam Maarouf, born in Gaza in 1981, is a Palestinian poet and journalist. He continues to live and work in Gaza, and his work is therefore directly shaped by the realities on the ground. Maarouf is regarded as an important voice in contemporary Arabic poetry. In 2024, he founded the publishing house Gaza Publications.
A joint event presented by Haus für Poesie, Literarisches Colloquium Berlin, and S. Fischer Verlag.