PalREAD aims to tell the story of Palestinian literature by mapping and re-tracing the evolution of Palestinian literary and cultural production from 1948 to the present across various Arab, European, American, and Latin American countries.

The project aims to take a holistic approach to researching authors and literary texts: their trajectories, production, reading sites, reception, and circulation. 

PalREAD will seek to gather Palestinian literature-related material on: 

• Authors 
• Literary works, especially first editions
• Literary/cultural publications (newspapers, magazines, journals)
• Memoirs/autobiographies
• Book art
• Pamphlets & brochures
• Photos
• Letters
• Speeches/lectures
• Political party publications & posters
• Radio and TV broadcasts of literary/cultural programs
• Literary festivals, events, conferences, symposiums & meetings
• Literary awards
• Literary cafes/salons/spaces
• Publishers
• Distributers
• Bookshops
• Related film
• Related art, museums & galleries

by seeking to tap into:

• Private collections
• Private libraries & archives
• Cultural institutions/foundations libraries & archives
• Political party archives
• Public/national/institutional libraries & archives

Using the tools of Digital Humanities, material gathered will be made publicly accessible on the project’s searchable online platform. The portal will feature:

• Interactive timeline
• Interactive maps
• Author biographies and related literary works
• A large array of digitized difficult-to-access sources & material
• Podcasts/interviews with authors and cultural figures
• Scholarly articles & secondary sources
• Links to relevant online sources

PalREAD is a 5-year (2018-2023) European Research Council (ERC) funded project, hosted at the Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), led by principal investigator Dr. Refqa Abu-Remaileh