Sonia Sulaiman
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Land of Stone and Thyme Read-Along #2: A Green House with a Brick-Red Roof by Rashad Abu Shawer
(content warning: gore, death of children, war) This story, like The Tree, is a piece of flash fiction about the Nakba- the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. It’s a very simple story of innocence and young love, war, and tragedy. It is also a retelling of one of the Palestinian folktale variants on Cinderella. In it,… Continue reading
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Land of Stone and Thyme Read-Along #1: The Tree by Ahmed Omar Shaheen
I’m going to say this piece is speculative, but it is ambiguous enough to defy simple genre categories. This piece of flash fiction is only a page long. Like a mother, the tree had protected us, offering us refuge in its abundant, intertwining branches. And because the guardian of the gemeiz tree protected us too,… Continue reading
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Palestinian Folktale and lore: Saint George/Elijah/El Khadr
Saint George is the patron saint of Palestine. Here’s a short folktale from my family’s village: Unlike most folktales, this one is in a category that blurs the line between tale and anecdote because it is apparently something that happened within living memory at the time it was recorded. The rains of the winter of… Continue reading
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Open for Business!
I finally have my own shop. Please clap; it took literally all day for me to figure it out! You’ll find all of my singles–that is short stories you can dip into if you’ve never read my work before– as well as my collection. Hopefully, nothing is broken… If you’re not sure where to start,… Continue reading
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Palestinian Folktale: A Disputation in Signs
This is the only folktale my father told me. He’s what we call a “1948 refugee,” meaning he is one of the original Palestinian refugees, still waiting to return home. This story is interesting because it is first found in the 13th century Gloss Accursius, a medieval gloss on the Roman law code of Justinian.… Continue reading
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Palestinian Folktale: The Patriarch Goes to Heaven
This is a Palestinian Christian story about a man who dies and goes to Heaven. While he’s getting his bearings after being let through the pearly gates, he sees everyone suddenly get all riled up. They put out decorations and line the streets as if for a festival. The man is confused, so he asks… Continue reading
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Palestinian Folktale: Pomegranate Seeds
There are a lot of ghoul stories in Palestinian folklore. Here’s one of them. It’s called Pomegranate Seeds. It begins with a woman who had an only child, a daughter. This was in the olden days when there were no schools… The girl was sent to the sheikh for her lessons. Every day she would… Continue reading
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Palestinian Folktale: The Camel Driver in Need of a Friend
There was and there was not a camel driver who passed by an orchard one day. Looking over the wall, he saw a man sitting in the shade. ‘How lucky he is! He can stay here and enjoy all of this while I must travel to earn my bread.’ Meanwhile, the man saw the camel… Continue reading
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Do Not Recommend
I’ll be recovering from oral surgery for the next month at least. A tooth extraction went badly and they had to reconstruct my sinus! I don’t have time for a long post, and I’ll spare you the gory details anyway… But I’m going to take it easy for the next few weeks while I recover.… Continue reading
About Me
I write speculative fiction inspired by Palestinians folklore. My work has appeared in ArabLit Quarterly, Beladi, FANTASY Magazine, FIYAH, Lackington’s, and Seize the Press among other venues.
My stories have been nominated for Pushcart, Lammy, Palestine Book, and Best New Weird awards.
Recent Posts
- A Rosary for Mary, Queen of Palestine
- Spooky for Palestine
- Palestinian Folktale: A Promise Kept
- A Green House with a Brick-Red Roof
- Fantasy Magazine Debut!
#AuthorToolBoxBlogHop a land of stone and thyme aleatory writing alternate history an illustrated treasury of palestinian folktales archive author: grace m. crowfoot author: j. e. hanauer author: Jmal Sleem Nuwihed author: louise baldensperger author: najwa kawar farah author: praline gay-para Author: Zev Vilnay blogging books Clarion Flash Workshop 2023 discussion ebooks exercises fairy tales fantasy folktales folk tales health herbal lore hugos illustration index lebanese folktales legends legends of palestine 1932 life Lightspeed nature news palestinian folktales projects science fantasy speculative fiction submissions tarot translator: Inea Bushnaq update writing games writing prompts