Ibtisam Azem

Ibtisam Azem is a Palestinian novelist and journalist based in New York, the author of a story collection and two novels in Arabic. Her novels have been published, in Sinan Antoon’s English translations, as The Book of Disappearance (Syracuse University Press, 2019), longlisted for the International Booker Prize, and The Sleep Thief (And Other Stories, 2026). “Aida,” in this issue, is part of her forthcoming collection, City of Strangers (And Other Stories, 2027). She is a Radcliffe Fellow for 2026–27. (updated 10/2026)