Harare Review of Books

288 pages. Published December 10, 2024 by OR Books. Non-fiction.

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There’s no easy way to talk, write or think about Refaat Alareer’s tragically short life. This book, however, gives us a way to do so. It’s a collection of poetry, thoughts and interviews from 2010 up to Alareer’s death during an Israeli airstrike in December of 2023, and includes the now-iconic poem If I Must Die, the collection’s title.

This collection is a memorial to Refaat Alareer’s life, and an indictment against Israel on behalf of the people of Palestine, and humanity as a whole. It will break your heart—I wept; it may also enrage you. But the truth of the matter is that Refaat and his loved ones are gone, seemingly without justice.

After the horrors of a now more than year-long genocide, this collection must also stand as testimony against all of us. It will also be a record of Refaat, the teller of Palestinian stories, unbowed; and Refaat’s voice, unsilenced.

Thank you to OR Books and Edelweiss for early access.

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