A daybook by Palestinian poet, editor, and curator Mahmoud Al-Shaer, A Year on the Abyss of Genocide is comprised periodic updates following Al-Shaer’s displacement and eventual return throughout a year in Gaza. Navigating self-reflection and public appeal for survival, A Year on the Abyss of Genocide is a work of dignity and intense introspection, and Al-Shaer’s poetic prose defies the spectacle of suffering, focusing on deep psychological states as he vacillates between despair, numbness, and hope.

With an foreword by Palestinian curator and writer Nasrin Himada, and an afterword by Palestinian antiracism scholar Fadi Ennab, A Year on the Abyss of Genocide begins with an editor’s note from Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg editor Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, who met Al-Shaer through the Palestine Festival of Literature in 2023.