When the Bulbul Stopped Singing: A Diary of Ramallah under Siege

Battered by repeated suicide bombs, the Israeli army invaded Palestine in April 2002 and held many of the principal towns, including Ramallah, under siege. A tank stood at the end of Raja Shehadeh’s road; there were Israeli soldiers on the rooftops; his mother was sick, and he couldn’t cross town to help her.

Shehadeh – winner of the 2008 Orwell Prize and a finalist for the 2023 National Book Awards – kept a diary. This is an account of what it is like to be under siege: the terror, the frustrations, as well as the moments of poignant relief and reflection on the profound crisis gripping both Palestine and Israel.

‘Palestine’s greatest prose writer’ Observer
‘Shehadeh is a great inquiring spirit with a tone that is vivid, ironic, melancholy and wise’ Colm Toibin

Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
Imprint: Profile Books UK
Publication date: 03/12/2024