Librarians and Archivists with Palestine is proud to announce They Called Me a Lioness: A Palestinian Girl’s Fight for Freedom by Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri as the 2025 title for our “One Book, Many Communities” international reading campaign. Published in 2022, the memoir has received widespread acclaim with Kirkus Reviews describing it as “passionately argued, profoundly empathetic, and deeply informed examination of her country’s occupation.”

Tamimi became known worldwide after a clip of her slapping an Israeli soldier went viral, but her struggle against apartheid and occupation began long before that. In They Called Me a Lioness, Tamimi and Takruri reveal the events that led to Tamimi’s courageous defiance and its aftermath. Through this narrative we see how Tamimi’s family, village, and fellow prisoners inspired and supported her through imprisonment, continued struggle against oppression, and the tribulations of her newfound fame. Additionally, Tamimi and Takruri outline important points in history from the Nakba in 1948 to the present day in an accessible way that makes the book an excellent primer on the struggle for Palestinian self-determination.

The “One Book, Many Communities” campaign draws inspiration from the “one book, one town” idea that encourages local communities to come together and discuss a common text. Librarians and Archivists with Palestine aims to introduce readers to the richness of Palestinian literature and create broader awareness and understanding of Palestinian history and the struggle for liberation. We invite readers, librarians, and others to organize gatherings centered on They Called Me a Lioness. 

Join us and host book discussions in-person or online. COVID-19 is unfortunately still with us, so consider incorporating high-quality masks, ventilation, or even an outdoor venue for in-person events. Our 2025 toolkit [add link] and resource guide [add link] provides tips on hosting your event. If you schedule your event in March or April 2025, you’ll be connected with readers across the globe who will be reading and discussing the book at the same time. Use your imagination and let us know what you’re planning! Use the hashtag #lap1book when posting to social media.

Content note: They Called Me a Lioness includes content pertaining to killing, life-altering injuries sustained through violence, and occupation. Emotional responses to traumatic themes can vary and consider how engagement with the material in a safe and healthy way can vary person to person. Consider how the event can normalize making space for community care. 

Acquiring the book

• They Called Me a Lioness is available from many public and academic libraries.* Copies can be purchased from the publisher, Penguin Random House, as well as Bookshop.org, Powell’s, Barnes & Noble (including ebook), and other online book retailers. It is also available as an audiobook on Libro.fm. 
• Let us know if you have any questions about acquiring the book.

*Many public libraries allow you to request to purchase the book or obtain it from another library via interlibrary loan.

Previous One Book, Many Communities events:

2024: Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear by Mosab Abu Toha. This poetry collection paints a picture of life in Gaza, first as a child and later as a young father. The scenes of violence and destruction of living through four brutal military attacks are set against a landscape of humanity and joy as resistance of Palestine and its people.

2021: Minor Detail by Adania Shibli. A Palestinian woman is determined to know more about a young Bedouin girl raped and killed by Israeli soldiers in 1949.

2020: The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem. Set in modern-day Jaffa and the greater Tel Aviv area, the story follows Alaa, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, and his friend Ariel, a Jewish Israeli. After Alaa disappears, Ariel finds Alaa’s journals and Alaa’s family memories create a dialogue with Ariel as the crisis of the mass disappearance unfolds.

2018: Code Name: Butterfly by Ahlam Bsharat. This coming-of-age novel portrays life under occupation from the perspective of a 14-year-old girl. Butterfly and her peers have conventional teenage challenges like love and jealousy, but they also contend with fears and struggles most adults will never have to experience.

2017: “Returning to Haifa” by Ghassan Kanafani as found in the short story collection Palestine’s Children: Returning to Haifa and Other Stories. Kanafani tells the story of a couple that was forced to flee Haifa in 1948 and is returning for the first time in 20 years. Their feelings of displacement are accompanied by grief for the son they had to leave behind.

2016: Sharon and My Mother-in-Law by Suad Amiry. Suad Amiry writes with humor and insight about the realities of life under occupation. From falling in love across borders to dealing with deliberately inscrutable Israeli policies, Amiry’s “Ramallah Diaries” will have you laughing and crying in the same breath. 

2015: Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa. Mornings in Jenin is a sweeping, heart-wrenching historical saga about four generations of the Abulheja family. From Jenin to Jerusalem to Beirut to Philadelphia, the novel follows the family from its displacement from Ein Hod village in 1948 through love and loss over decades of life in Palestine and the diaspora.