Ahmed Alnaouq: We Are Not Numbers

Ten years on, this collection brings together the most impactful essay contributions of the last decade from emerging Palestinian writers, offering a sobering, tender, inspiring and humanising view of Palestine through the eyes of its next generation of leaders.

In an epilogue covering the most recent war in Gaza, the collection’s editors Ahmed Alnaouq and Pam Bailey reflect on the personal tragedies they have faced, including the deaths of 21 of Alnaouq’s family members in a single bomb blast, as well as those writers able to take WANN’s work forward and those no longer alive to do so.

In a rallying cry to onlookers around the world, We Are Not Numbers offers unparalleled insight into the real lives of the people of Gaza and imagines where we might go from here.

Ahmed Alnaouq grew up in Gaza where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from al-Azher University. Ahmed was the inspiration for, and original project manager of, We Are Not Numbers. He later won the UK’s prestigious Chevening scholarship and earned a Master’s degree in international journalism from Leeds University. He also serves as advocacy and outreach officer for the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. Alnaouq’s writings have been published by the Gulf News, New Arab, and other websites. He is currently based in London.

Malak Mattar was born in 1999 in the Gaza Strip and grew up under occupation and the military siege. She won a scholarship to study political science at Istanbul Aydin university in 2018 and another to study a Masters of Fine Art at Central Saint Martin’s, London, in 2023. Mattar started making art as a teenager and her work has since been exhibited in Palestine, Italy and the UK among others. She also wrote and illustrated the bestselling children’s book Sitti’s Bird (2021) based on her own life experiences.

Presented in association with PalFest.