World's first Palestinian culture bookshop opens
Key Takeaways
- Barcelona's Finestres Palestina is described as the first bookstore outside Palestine dedicated exclusively to Palestinian culture and literature.
- The shop houses around 4,000 books covering fiction, poetry, essays, art, children's literature and gastronomy.
- Organisers say the bookstore aims to promote Palestinian voices and provide deeper insight into Palestinian life and culture.
New literary hub focuses on Palestinian culture, history and everyday life through books and storytelling
A new bookstore in Barcelona is giving readers access to thousands of books focused exclusively on Palestinian culture, literature and thought.
Finestres Palestina, located in the city's Gracia neighbourhood, has opened with a collection of around 4,000 titles in several languages. The bookstore features fiction, poetry, essays, art, theatre, children's books and works on gastronomy, with a strong emphasis on Palestinian authors and perspectives.
Visitors were seen browsing shelves and displays during the store's opening weeks.
Olivia Watson, who heads the bookstore, said the project was created to help people understand Palestinian life beyond what they see in the news.
"Since 2023, lots of people who didn't know anything about the Palestinian context have seen what's happening in the headlines and are shocked by it. What that doesn't give people is a better understanding of the reality of Palestinian food, of Palestinian day-to-day reality, and that's what literature can do for us," Watson explained.
She said the bookstore also aims to provide a platform for Palestinian writers and thinkers.
"I think we need to, as a society, promote Palestinian voices at a time when they're being silenced. And that means proactively dedicating a space to Palestinian culture, Palestinian writing and literature, and trying to do our part to make sure that the genocide ends," she added.
According to Watson, the response from visitors has been positive since the store opened.
"We opened less than two weeks ago, and hundreds of people have been through, especially people from the diaspora, have been really excited to have this space," she said.
Palestinian literature has long explored themes including identity, displacement, memory and exile. Writers and poets have documented both personal experiences and political history through their work.
Among the best-known Palestinian literary figures is Edward Said, the Palestinian-American scholar whose book Orientalism became a key text in postcolonial studies. Poetry has also played a central role in Palestinian cultural expression, particularly through the work of Mahmoud Darwish.
The bookstore's opening comes as the conflict in Gaza continues following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
