Samar Yazbek for Your Presence Is a Danger to Your Life

Samar Yazbek met with hundreds of survivors from Gaza asking each of them about their experience of October 7, 2023, and what their life has been like since then. She has selected twenty-six of these narratives to share with the world.

Yazbek captures the chilling accounts of civilians aged thirteen to sixty-five, who have witnessed what history may one day remember as one of the most savage military offensives of our time. Their stories reveal a dystopia, where each survivor has endured homes shattered, loved ones vanished, and limbs obliterated. But these survivors remain determined to share their stories and cling to the hope that their voices will resonate.

The title, Your Presence Is a Danger to Your Life, is adapted from one of the flyers dropped on the residents of Gaza minutes before a bombing.

Samar Yazbek is a Syrian author and journalist. She has published two short story collections, seven novels, four non-fiction literary narratives, and has been translated into over twenty languages. Yazbek has been an advocate for women's rights in Syria. She took part in the uprising against the Assad regime and was forced into exile soon after. The author was awarded the PEN Pinter Prize 'International Writer of Courage'.

'Powerful and moving...bears comparison with George Orwell's Homage To Catalonia as a work of literature, Yazbek is a superb narrator ... this is how she crosses the line from journalism to high literary art.' Andrew Hussey, Observer (praise for The Crossing)