The Sleep Thief - Ibtisam Azem

Category: General Fiction
Language: English
Keywords: Middle East Palestine

Written by Ibtisam Azem
Read by Peter Ganim
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 128 Kbps
Unabridged

From Booker-longlisted Ibtisam Azem, a haunting odyssey where rest must be stolen at high price, and “Palestine” is a honeyed defiance on the tongue.

“Sleep thief is what the interrogator called me. I’ll never forget that. I would steal a few seconds of sleep so I could remain steadfast before them. The name stuck; I even dreamt about it, the same dream, night after night. I woke up not knowing what to do and drenched in sweat.”

The Sleep Thief follows the life of Gharib (“the Stranger”) Haifawi as he comes of age, is drawn into resistance, makes friends, meets lovers, pushes back against traditional values, longs to be free of the labels and expectations that burden him, rails against the commodification of suffering, and dreams of a Palestinian identity that will transcend sorrow.

©2011 Ibtisam Azem. Originally published in Arabic as Sariq al-Nawm by Al Kamel Verlag in 2011.

Length: 2 hrs and 53 mins
Release date: 09-22-26