Atef Abu Saif
Author · 7 books
Atef Abu Saif, born in 1973 in Jabalia in the Gaza Strip, is a Palestinian writer and political scientist. He studied English at Birzeit University and political science in Bradford, and earned a doctorate in sociology from the European University Institute in Florence. He taught political science and creative writing at a university in Gaza, worked as a journalist, and served as Palestinian Minister of Culture from 2019 to 2024. Abu Saif has published novels, short-story collections, plays and nonfiction. His novel “A Suspended Life” was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2015; “Hajji Christina” was shortlisted in 2016. During the war in Gaza, he wrote two diaries, including “The Drone Eats with Me”.