At the 2023 Independent Publisher Book Awards, Mowafa Said Househ’s memoir, Under the Nakba Tree: Fragments of a Palestinian Family in Canada, took home gold in the category of Best Regional Non-Fiction, Canada-West. The win was a tie with Tracking the Caribou Queen: Memoir of a Settler Girlhood by Margaret Macpherson (NeWest Press). The Independent Publisher Book Awards were created in 1996 to increase recognition of the thousands of excellent independent, university, and self-published titles published each year.
Praise for Under the Nakba Tree
“More than simply a Muslim Canadian or Palestinian diasporic memoir, Househ’s biography is a quintessentially Canadian story that breathes life into the grand narrative of the nation. His moving prose provides a lucid guide through the turbulence of the last twenty years—from the 9/11 terror attacks to tumult in Palestine—harmonizing aspects of modern history often viewed as isolated and separate. The result is a masterful retelling of a modern history lost between the cracks.” —Khaled A. Beydoun, author of American Islamophobia: Understanding the Roots and Rise of Fear
“Mowafa Househ is not only an outstanding scholar and distinguished intellectual, but also a courageous voice for justice. His biographical account is the remarkable telling of one person’s struggle to keep the memory of Palestine alive. A must read for all those who wish to understand the lives of the dispossessed.” —Farhan Chak, Qatar University
“Told with empathy and moral courage, Under the Nakba Tree offers a refusal of the Palestinian generation born in exile to let their history and rights disappear from political and domestic conversations. Published on the eve of the 74th anniversary of the Nakba, this story offers a narrative of survival and resistance—a refutation of past and current inequality, discrimination and injustice. By opting to stand up and tell his story, Househ does not hide or swallow the humiliation but instead spits it out.” —Ghada Ageel, Alberta Views
