RIYADH: Publisher Penguin Random House has released more details about a book by Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi.
Her memoir, “They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl’s Fight for Freedom,” is due to be published on Sept. 6.
Tamimi became a symbol of Palestinian resistance in 2017, at the age of 16, when she was filmed slapping an Israeli soldier who refused to leave her front yard. After the video went viral, she was arrested by Israeli authorities.
According to the publisher, the book is more than just a story of activism and imprisonment, “it is the human-scale story of an occupation that has riveted the world and shaped global politics, from a girl who grew up in the middle of it.”
The memoir is co-authored by Tamimi and Dena Takruri, a senior presenter with social media publisher AJ plus. In it Tamimi recalls one her earliest memories of visiting her father in prison and poking her “toddler fingers through the fence to touch his hand.” She also tells how she spent her 17th birthday behind bars.
Throughout the book, she shares her internal struggles with living under Israeli occupation, while attempting to experience the normal life of a daughter, sibling, student, and friend.
Several prominent authors have praised the book, including Omar Robert Hamilton, Ben Ehrenreich, and Eileen Myles.
Hamilton, author of “The City Always Wins,” said: “A powerful, moving combination of a memoir of personal resistance with a panoramic overview of the history of Palestine that leaves the reader with a detailed understanding of the daily realities of life under Israeli military occupation.”
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, author of “What the Eyes Don’t See,” said: “This passionate memoir shines a floodlight on a people, a place, and a problem that the world too often discounts.
“Beautifully written, ‘They Called Me a Lioness’ humanizes the daily headlines of occupation and resistance. Tamimi’s story will rattle your soul and ignite calls for justice, equality, and peace.”
The book will be published by One World, an imprint of Random House which is a division of the world’s largest trade book publisher Penguin Random House.
