Palestine Book Awards 2026: Winners announced in London ceremony

The winners of the 15th annual Palestine Book Awards were announced at a ceremony in London last night, with honours going to works on the genocide in Gaza, the colonial violence of the West, Palestinian land struggles and the mapping of Palestine. Historian Professor Nur Masalha received this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

The ceremony, organised by Middle East Monitor (MEMO), was hosted by British-Palestinian activist and spoken word poet Leanne Mohamad. It brought together authors, publishers, academics, journalists and [politicians/diplomats] to celebrate the best new books in English on Palestine. This year’s awards drew more than 80 submissions, the largest number in their history, from which ten titles were shortlisted.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr Mohannad Mustafa, a senior lecturer and political science researcher who specialises in politics and political discourse analysis. 

READ: Meet the shortlisted authors of Palestine Book Awards 2026

Guests were also treated to a performance of traditional Palestinian songs by Mohammed Shoman, a singer, guitarist and music producer from Gaza and a co-founder of Sol Band. 

The Academic Award went to Paul Kohlbry for Plots and Deeds: Agrarian Annihilation and the Fight for Land Justice in Palestine, which examines how Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank defend their land against settler violence and dispossession. 

Thomas Suárez won the Counter-Current Award for Palestine Mapped: From the River to the Sea in Early Geographic Thought, which traces centuries of mapmaking and its role in the colonisation of Palestine.

The Global Impact Award was presented to Hamid Dabashi for After Savagery: Gaza, Genocide, and the Illusion of Western Civilisation, which places the genocide in Gaza within the longer history of European colonial violence. The award was collected on his behalf by Brekhna Aftab, his editor at Haymarket Books. 

The Edited Books and Anthologies Award went to Susan Abulhawa for Every Moment Is a Life: Gaza in the Time of Genocide, a collection of stories by eighteen young writers from Gaza trying to survive Israel’s brutal onslaught. 

UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese won the Memoir Award for When the World Sleeps: Stories, Words and Wounds of Palestine, which tells the story of Palestine through ten people she has met. 

The evening closed with the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Professor Nur Masalha. His books include Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History.

The awards followed an evening at London’s P21 Gallery on Thursday, where shortlisted authors discussed their work with readers in an event hosted by Hazem Jamjoum, last year’s winner of the Translation Award. 

READ: Palestine Book Awards 2025: Winners Announced in London Ceremony