Oughh

Basem Al-Khandaqji, a Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jail, has won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his book, "A Mask, the Color of the Sky," which is about a Palestinian who takes on an Israeli’s identity.

He was unable to recieve the Prize as he was jailed for three life sentences from back in 2004. The person who recieved the reward on his behalf says Khandaqji smuggled the book out of jail page by page so as to avoid the suspicion of Israeli jailers.

The book is about a Palestinian archeologist who assumes an Israeli's identity after finding the Israeli's identity card in an old coat. Nur, the Palestinian, becomes the Jewish Israeli "Ur," and he travels through society to explore his occupiers way of life.

Israel has refused to allow Al-Khandaqji the cash prize, as they claim payment for terrorists is forbidden. However, the fact that Basem won this prize, which is called the "Arabic Booker" is outstanding in itself, considering the lengths he went through to write and publish the book.

This book is a testament to Palestinian resistance and art, showing the lengths Palestinians go through to make their voices heard, and the excellence of their crafts.

CNN Arabic

"قناع بلون السماء" لباسم خندقجي تفوز بجائزة "البوكر" العربية

فازت رواية "قناع بلون السماء" للكاتب الفلسطيني باسم خندقجي بالجائزة العالمية للرواية العربية (البوكر) لعام 2024.

en.majalla.com

Basim Khandaqji wins top Arabic literary award from behind prison bars

The jailed Palestinian author won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his book, 'A Mask, the Colour of the Sky', which tells the

https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/143583

reblog if your name isn't Amanda.

2,121,566 people are not Amanda and counting!

We’ll find you Amanda.

Do you have any tips for writing enemies to lovers?

Hi, love!  Thanks for your question and your patience<3  I’m currently writing somethingsimilar to this, so I hope my experience can help you here!

Enemies-to-lovers is a popular trope, but it’s often treatedcarelessly by writers – especially TV/movie writers who rush through thetransition to fit a single movie or episode arc.  There’s nothing worseyou can do in this situation than to rush your arc.  Falling in love isalready a time-consuming plotline – but transitioning from enemies, who arealready shutting each other out, to lovers?  The quicker it happens, theless believable it becomes.

I have a lot of notes on how to write enemies to lovers, sobear with me as I list them out.

Writing Enemies to Lovers: The Basic Ingredients

1. Give them some similar traits.

No matter what, two people can’t fall in love if they don’trelate on some level.  The first step to creating possible love interestsis to find where they’ll connect.  Are they a hero and a villain? Evil and good?  Night and day?  I bet they both love animals. Maybe they’re both way into politics.  Maybe they share a commonenemy.  Maybe they’re both neat freaks or a bit sassy or super gay or lovethe same music.  It can be a few important things or a bunch of superficialthings – just make sure they have something that can tie themtogether.

2. Put them on the same side of something.

When two people are mortal foes, it can be hard for them tosee each other in any other light.  Bringing in a common enemy (ananti-hero, a natural disaster, a person in power), or a common interest (amutual friend, a school play, a moral cause), can land foes on a teamtogether.  This forces them to become aware of each other’s strengths, andto consider (and worry about) each other’s weaknesses.  This is perfectfodder for an eyebrows-raised, “Hey, they don’t suck at this particularthing,” moment.

3. Get them alone.

With other people watching (especiallyfriends/coworkers/allies), little groundwork can be made for your twohate-lovers.  If you get your characters alone together, you’re given abounty of opportunities to bond them, including but not limited to: actualconversations, accidental (or faux-accidental) physical contact, the sneakymoment of checking each other out, etc. etc. etc.  People are differentwhen you get them away from their friends – less extreme, less rowdy, lessunreachable.  If you have to trap your characters in an elevator theold-fashioned way, damn it, you’re the only one who can do it.

4. Let them fight their feelings.

If these two are truly enemies, there isn’t going to be amoment of, “Oh, I like them.  Huh.  Neato.”  Oh, no. There will be internal backlash – they will beat their emotions back with abroom, and deny them to anyone who asks.  There will be extra hatefulglares, more middle fingers, and basically anything they can do to remindthemselves that they don’t like this person.  If you show thisinternal conflict, it both (a) makes the feelings seem real, organic, and (b)creates a more realistic transition from hate to love.

5. Love can sound like hate.

There’s a reason people say indifference is the trueopposite of love.  When your two enemies start to feel things foreach other, this will probably spark a lot of ranting, arguing, anddoor-slamming.  It creates a fixation – you sit there and you stew andyou tell your friends, “Remember when they did thatstupid thing?  Yeah.  Screw them.”  Your friends roll theireyes.  When will you stop talking about this person?  Just kiss themalready.

6. Sexual tension is a powerful tool.

If your characters experience sexual attraction, this is agreat way to accelerate their relationship against their will.  It’s theage-old, “My mind says no but my body says yes,” dilemma.  Yourcharacters can’t stand each other, or the image they have of each other, butthey’re attracted like magnets and can’t shake it.  This can make for somepretty hot – or pretty hilarious – scenes.

7. Give them a moment of horrified realization.

Eventually, the feelings will grow strong enough that one orboth of them will have to sit there, probably on the bathroom floor a littlebit drunk with one sock on, and realize: “I love that f*cker.”  It’llbe a scary moment for them.  It’s not that they haven’t known it – theyjust have yet to accept that it’s something to deal with, until now.  Thiscan be prompted by a dangerous situation, a shared activity, or a failed attemptat another romance – so when they really sit and think about it, theyknow.  Then it becomes a question of either “how do I get rid of this?”or “how do I pursue this?”.

8. Try their hand at flirting.

Whether one or both characters have come to accept theirfeelings, someone’s gotta start flirting.  A glancing touch across thearm; a small comment that could kind of be construed as amicable; a lingeringglance; that first peek at their enemy’s smile.  Something cute and quickand immediately followed by an existential crisis will do in a pinch. Without this water-testing, readers won’t have any image of what thisrelationship will look like – and if it can succeed.

9. Craft the perfect kiss/hug/confession.

When the time is right, create an undeniable display ofattraction to transition into a new phase of their relationship:the “welp-we-both-like-each-other” phase, which comes right beforethe “we-decided-to-(stay-platonic/start-romancin’)” phase.  The BigKiss/Confession is the most iconic climactic love scene, in which the twocharacters take a chance and become vulnerable with each other – and kiss, orsay, “I love you,” or do anything that can’t be construed in any otherway.  Want to extend the drama?  Interrupt them, or have it beone-sided, or let it turn into a fight until they decide, “Forget it, thiswas stupid.”  Readers will swoon.

10. Finish up with an awkward adjustment period.

If and when your characters do enter a relationship, makesure it’s a little tentative at the beginning, to keep it realistic.  Yourcharacters have made a huge shift in their dynamic – there will be somelingering arguments and love-hate, and maybe a bit of discomfort going publicwith their romance.  Then come the usual growing pains of a new relationshipgetting serious – figuring out how to navigate each other’s flaws, learning tobe open with their feelings, dealing with unresolved fights from before theirrelationship.  It won’t be perfect right away.  That’s the beauty of it.

I hope this helps you, love!  I adore love-haterelationships, and I hope you enjoy crafting your own enemies-to-lovers as muchas we’ll all love reading them :)  Good luck!

– Mod Joanna ♥️

Ifyou need advice on general writing or fanfiction, you should maybe ask us!

Wander: Hey, is anyone else d—

Hater: Dead?

Peepers: Drained?

Dominator: Depressed?

Sylvia: Deprived of sleep?

Wander: …-done with your work?……

Wander: Are you guys alright? 

Via MohammedElKurd

sudanese-led causes to donate to!

sources: 1, 2

Links:

Sudanese Americans Physicians Association / Twitter

Darfur Women Action / Twitter

Hadhreen / Twitter

Fill A Heart / Twitter

HomeTax / Twitter

Hanabneiho (Twitter)

Sudan-Cairo Aid / Instagram

Barana Hanabneiho (Twitter)

please reblog the fundraisers you see on your dash. please. if you claim to care about palestine, NOW is the time to prove it. everyone said gaza will be worse off if trump wins - well, now he has. the least anyone can do now is reblog and share and DONATE to as many fundraisers as possible. especially if you're american. you want harm reduction? this is harm reduction. help gazan families.

you can't decide where to start?

gazafunds

mohammad, nawal, and baby roaa

yousef, khadija, and baby majd

ahmed, his family, and their cat soso

nairuz and hussein's spreadsheet | gazavetters' spreadsheet | the butterfly effect spreadsheet

fundraisers linked on my blog

pick a name. any name. read their story. realize that what you feel now, they feel everyday, a thousandfold. donate whatever you can. at the very least, reblog if you can't.

there is no excuse not to.

Next time, lay off the grape juice, alright? 

THANK YOU FOR 200 FOLLOWERS!

I’m so honored, and happy that you all like this blog! To celebrate, here’s all of Hater’s outfits from The Big Day, transparent and free to use.

Your favourite creators are raising money for Palestine !!!

["Creators for Palestine is raising money for Palestine Children's Relief Fund, a registered 501 non-governmental organisation established in 1992. With the current state Gaza is in, we are looking to raise $1M to address humanitarian needs and immediate relief, including providing essential medical treatment/supplies, food, clean water and other necessities for families affected by the genocide. Please donate and share now!"]

Some notable figures: Hasanabi, Kurtis Connor, Eddy Burback, and many more!

You can donate here -> https://tiltify.com/@creators-for-palestine/creators-for-palestine

When they reach their $750K goal, there will be a livestream to get to $1mil! Don't miss it!

Thank you for supporting Palestine <3

🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸