Book Talk: Pam Bailey — We Are Not Numbers: The Voices of Gaza's Youth - with Zeina Azzam

Watch author Pam Bailey's book talk and reading at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C.

A teenage girl stares at her roof, hoping it won’t collapse over her head. A young student searches the Internet for photos of libraries around the world, hoping he’ll be able to visit them one day. Another walks around the city, taking notes of all the buildings she dreams of repairing.

These are the stories of young people from Gaza, born under Israeli occupation and blockade. They are people who have endured unspeakable struggles and losses, who keep fighting to be recognized not as numbers, but as human beings with hopes, dreams, and lives worth living.

We Are Not Numbers was founded in 2014 to give voice to the youth of Gaza. In this collection—vital, urgent and full of heart, spanning over ten years to the present moment—we gain an unparalleled insight into the past, as well as the current and next generation of Palestinian leaders, artists, scientists and scholars and imagine where we might go from here.

Pam Bailey is a social-justice activist and journalist based in Washington DC. She lived and worked in the Gaza Strip following the 2008/9 Israeli assault, and co-founded We Are Not Numbers in 2015. Today, in addition to her ongoing support of the Palestinian cause, she serves as co-founder and managing director of a nonprofit that advocates for currently and formerly incarcerated DC residents, called More Than Our Crimes.

Bailey is joined in conversation with Zeina Azzam, a Palestinian American poet, writer, editor, and community activist, is Poet Laureate Emerita (2022-25) for the City of Alexandria, Virginia. Her full-length poetry collection, Some Things Never Leave You, was published by Tiger Bark Press in July 2023, and her chapbook, Bayna Bayna, In-Between, in 2021 by The Poetry Box. She has volunteered as a mentor for We Are Not Numbers since 2016 and currently serves as WANN's poetry editor.

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Politics and Prose is a beloved and award-winning staple for book lovers around the nation's capital and the world. In addition to our incredible selection of titles, Politics and Prose offers public book talks with today's leading authors and journalists.

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