I Saw Ramallah

Outline

I Saw Ramallah (1997) recounts Mourid Barghouti’s return to Ramallah in 1996 after thirty years of exile that began with the 1967 war. Crossing the bridge from Jordan, he reflects on memory, displacement, family, and the changes in the places he once knew. Written in lyrical prose, the book won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature and is considered a classic of Palestinian writing.

• Barghouti returns to Ramallah in 1996 after thirty years of exile that began with the 1967 war.
• The book follows his crossing of the bridge from Jordan and what he feels on arriving.
• He reflects on memory, displacement and family as he faces places that have changed since he last knew them.
• The prose is lyrical, and the book won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature.
• It is considered a classic of Palestinian writing, centred on identity, belonging and the meaning of home.

Mourid Barghouti (1944–2021) was a Palestinian poet and writer who published more than a dozen collections of poetry. He spent much of his life in exile, including many years in Cairo. His other books include the memoir I Was Born There, I Was Born Here.