Last Thursday, the Algerian International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies announced the launch of a literary award in the name of the martyr Palestinian Writer and Poet Hiba Abu Nada, directed to writers of poetry and short stories to immortalize and keep pace with the heroism of the Palestinian resistance.
The Federation stated in a statement that the declaration comes as an affirmation of the importance of moral resistance and standing against war crimes committed by the aggressor entity against the Palestinian brothers and also in memory of the souls of the martyrs for freedom.
The statement further pointed out that it is a literary award in the field of poetry in its eloquent and popular branches and the field of the short story to immortalize and accompany the heroism of the Palestinian resistance and to express feelings of solidarity towards the brotherly Palestinian people and literary and cultural condemnation of the war of extermination facing Gaza.
The award will bear the name of the Palestinian poet (Heba Abu Nada), who was martyred on the 20th of last month when she was resisting the barbaric aggression in poetry and prose until the last moment of her life.
Abu Nada was born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on June 24, 1991, to a family of Palestinian refugees displaced by the depopulation of the village of Bayt Jirja by Israeli forces during the Nakba. She received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Islamic University, Gaza, and a Master’s degree in clinical nutrition from Al-Azhar University.
She published several collections of poetry and a novel titled “Oxygen is Not for the Dead”. In 2017, she won second place in the 20th annual Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity, held by the United Arab Emirates, for her novel. The book was republished by Dar Diwan in 2021.
Notably, Abu Nada wrote her final words in Arabic on the 8th of October. The late Palestinian Poet posted her last tweet ever: Gaza’s night is dark apart from the glow of rockets, quite apart from the sound of the bombs, terrifying apart from the comfort of prayer, black apart from the light of the martyrs. Good night, Gaza.
The Algerian Federation revealed the deadline for receiving works will be on December 1st, provided that the names of the winners will be announced after the Forum (Arab Resistance Literature) organized by the Union at the end of the same month.
