The Sea Cloak

About

The Sea Cloak is a collection of 11 stories by the author, journalist, and women’s rights campaigner, Nayrouz Qarmout. Drawing from her own experiences growing up in a Syrian refugee camp, as well as her current life in Gaza, these stories stitch together a patchwork of different perspectives into what it means to be a woman in Palestine today.

Whether following the daily struggles of orphaned children fighting to survive in the rubble of recent bombardments, or mapping the complex, cultural tensions between different generations of refugees in wider Gazan society, these stories offer rare insights into one of the most talked about, but least understood cities in the Middle East. Taken together, the collection affords us a local perspective on a global story, and it does so thanks to a cast of (predominantly female) characters whose vantage point is rooted, firmly, in that most cherished of things, the home. 

Translated from the Arabic by Perween Richards.

Press

WATCH

Short clip on Channel 4 News about Edinburgh-bound authors (including Nayrouz) facing visa problems.

Watch Nayrouz Qarmout speak to Esa Aldegheri at Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Watch Nayrouz Qarmout speak to Michael Hannigan and Mazen Maarouf at Cork International Short Story Festival. 

Closing remarks from Edinburgh International Book Festival.