Byron Bibliotherapy

27/10/2025

My friend sent me this touching text message yesterday. I sincerely appreciated it.

They are the first person to have reached out like that. I didn’t even know they hadn’t believed me.

But many of us are on a journey of recognising and overcoming our internal biases, many of which have been planted, watered and fed by a powerful propaganda machine that seeks to divide us.

This short message meant the world to me, after struggling with the silence of a world gone mad these past two years.

So if you have thought of reaching out to pro-Palestinian friends and family, please do. They may not be at a stage where they can forgive or forget, but it IS likely they are feeling isolated and bereft.

They will have spent months trying to prise open doors of communication with people, to tell them about the vast atrocities occurring in Palestine and the unfair consequences faced by those speaking up for 🇵🇸, only to have those doors slammed in their face.

Really, the moral injuries and injustices have been nearly unbearable.

🚪🚪🚪🚪🚪🚪🚪🚪🚪🚪🚪🚪🚪🚪🚪🚪



🗝️🗝️🗝️🗝️🗝️🗝️🗝️🗝️🗝️🗝️🗝️🗝️🗝️🗝️🗝️🗝️

22/10/2025

Thanks to my friend, retired teacher-librarian Dajo, for recommending THE CAT AT THE WALL to me, twice!

It is now one of my all-time favourite middle-grade novels. It’s from the perspective of an American girl who has been reincarnated not the body of a cat in Jerusalem in the Occupied West Bank. The cat witnesses and is an active participant when two IDF soldiers take over a local family’s home, little knowing their autistic son is home alone.

I have some criticisms, mainly of the humanisation of the soldiers, after months of seeing their despicable propaganda videos, but they verbally the book is so superb. A must read for everyone!

SIT is a short story collection (I’m not usually a fan) all based on chairs. My favourite was the first story, about a factory worker boy living in Jakarta.

I’ve included pages from another story about Gretchen, a German high school student who returns home from a school trip to Auschwitz with many questions about her family’s role in the Holocaust, and how such a thing could have happened in her country. (Hint: it’s called dehumanisation and it’s happening today in Occupied Palestine, sadly in the name of the victims of that very Holocaust.)

Swipe through to the end to see how very relevant children’s books are for inspiring empathy and critical reasoning, even if we in the world seem not to be able to heed the call to action when it is most needed.

🖊️ Deborah Ellis
📖

20/10/2025

A poem a day keeps the doctor away.

Text by Panda Wong, music by Hannah Wu. The original-format version was published in Loom Literary Journal. Read our interview with founder Adalya Nash Hussein here.

16/10/2025

Collective grief 🪦🕊️

I’ll share Saleh’s will in my next post, because it shows great integrity and strength.

13/10/2025

Repost •

‘Diary of a Young Doctor: Notes from the Genocide in Gaza’ by Ezzideen Shehab

• Out on 10 November 2025, available for preorder now •

A powerful eyewitness account of the genocide in Gaza by an extraordinary young writer and general physician.

•

Five days before 7 October 2023 a young Palestinian doctor returns to Gaza, having completed his medical studies abroad. His family gathers to celebrate his achievements and welcome him home. On 11 October forty-two members of his extended family are killed in an airstrike, and thus begins his incredible story of survival and service to his people.

Throughout it all, Dr Shehab posts regular updates on the situation for his patients and for his people. His clarity and humanity shine bright as he describes those he treats, and his incomprehension at the unfolding genocide and the silence of the world in the face of the ongoing atrocities. ‘Diary of a Young Doctor’ is an unforgettable testimony of one of the most shameful periods in recent history.

•

‘Diary of a Young Doctor’ is published by Readers and Writers Against the Genocide, an organisation founded by members of the Australian literary sector to call for a ceasefire, oppose the genocide in Gaza, and advocate for a free Palestine.

Readers and Writers Against the Genocide believes in the power of literature to transform lives and through this project aims to collaborate with Palestinian writers to share their stories and amplify their voices.

Sales of this book will contribute to financially supporting Dr Shehab, his family and his medical work.

•

Check the link in our bio for some bookstore friends of RWAG who have ordered Dr Ezzideen’s book and you can preorder from them now! - but *everyone* can order it from their local independent bookshop too!

•

AUTHOR INTERVIEWS AND EXTRACTS AVAILABLE

•

10/10/2025

Thank you to my friend Cathy, who gave a bouquet I’m sure was meant for her daughter to my daughter at Opening Night 🎭

Helping to salvage a massive parenting fail on my part 🙏

And Happy Birthday !

🎹 Credit:

07/10/2025

The political lessons of two years of the Gaza genocide.

03/10/2025

Excited to be attending this kidlit conference this weekend!

Don’t miss out on registering - register now at link in bio.

Double check the timezone difference, but once you’ve registered, you should receive most recordings after the event.

Enjoy! ✍️🎉🤸🏻‍♀️🖍️👧🏻

22/09/2025

Posted • .abualrub.98 In Gaza, it is no longer rare to meet someone who is the only survivor of their family. Entire families have been wiped out, leaving behind a lone mother without her children, or a child without parents, siblings, or home. And what can you say about that pain? You cannot measure it, you cannot compare it, a mother’s scream is just as unbearable as a child’s silence. The grief is endless, and it belongs to everyone here.

People are being bombed, killed, jailed, tortured, and starved. Whole towns have been erased, reduced to dust. Those who remain live day by day, knowing that any second could be their last. Survival is not guaranteed, it is a constant struggle against hunger, against rubble, against despair.

And yet, this is the miracle. Despite everything, the people of Gaza remain the most beautiful souls you will ever encounter. Their spirit is unbreakable, their love untouched by war, their humanity shining through the darkest night. No matter how much you see from afar, it is nothing compared to standing here, feeling the weight of destruction, and at the same time witnessing the most extraordinary resilience the world has ever known 🤍

15/09/2025

If, like me, you’ve been meaning to read this one, join us!

Repost • We may be writing for kids, but we take big ideas and grown-up books seriously, too. This month, we’re hosting a book club for our Story Sunbirds Hour, and invite you to discuss ONE DAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AGAINST THIS by Omar El Akkad.

Already considered essential reading by some of our members, this book charts our roles as witness to a genocide in real time, tackling hard questions in sometimes poetic prose, and offers an examination of the world systems we exist in today.

Register at the link below or in our bio and stories - can’t wait to dissect this one with you.

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/yqxZPtiNRLC6K0EU6IDy9g

Thursday 18 September, 12pm PT, 3pm ET, 8pm BST.

PS - For the comfort of everyone, we ask that folks keep their cameras on and introduce themselves on logging in.