Unceded Land

Searing psychological poetry by Palestinian-American health worker

A poignant engagement from the perspective of a rooted Palestinian diaspora grappling with history, territory and colonialism with a keen eye for unknotting emotions, recording beauty, and recognising love.

Issam Zineh's debut poetry collection Unceded Land is a lyrical marvel, tracing the lines of intimacy, loss, and the colonial legacy in Palestine. With an eye that wanders from the subtly beautiful to the crushingly blunt, his poetry seeks out the "primordial egg within us," the truths that are "traded in broken bones."

Zineh's capturing of the romantic and violent, the personal and the political, is a testament to his unwavering dedication to plumbing the depths of emotion that lie in psychological and physical territories alike.