Atef Abu Saif* was born in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in 1973. He graduated from Birzeit University in the West Bank and completed postgraduate studies at the University of Bradford in England and the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. In addition to being a writer, he was a spokesperson for the Fatah political party and, in 2019, took office as Minister of Culture of the Palestinian National Authority, based in the West Bank. He is the author of political essays, five novels and two books of short stories. He is a frequent contributor to Arab newspapers and magazines, and has published in The New York Times and in The Guardian, among other means of communication. I Want to Be Awake When I Die: Diary of the Gaza Genocide (Elefante, 2024), first book by Atef Abu Saif published in Brazil, narrates the days in which the writer, on a mission as a minister of the Palestinian Authority, found himself trapped in the territory of Gaza during the initial bombings carried out by Israel, in immediate response to the attacks of October 7, 2023.
Translated by: Gisele Eberspächer
*The author’s participation in Flip was supported by Elefante publishing house.
