Ibtisam Azem
The Sleep Thief
‘Sleep thief is what the interrogator called me. I’ll never forget that. I would steal a few seconds of sleep so I could remain steadfast before them. The name stuck; I even dreamt about it, the same dream, night after night. I woke up not knowing what to do and drenched in sweat.’
The experimental first novel from International Booker-Prize longlisted Palestinian author Ibtisam Azem, The Sleep Thief follows the life of Gharib (“the Stranger”) Haifawi as he comes of age, is drawn into resistance, makes friends, meets lovers, pushes back against traditional values, longs to be free of the labels and expectations that burden him, rails against the commodification of suffering, and dreams of a Palestinian identity that will transcend sorrow.
Read an ExcerptMore Info
- You can read an interview with Ibtisam Azem in Strange Horizons, available here.
- A recording of a discussion that Ibtisam Azem took part in at the Institute for Palestine Studies is available to watch on their website, here.
- The International Booker spoke to Ibtisam Azem and Sinan Antoon about Palestinian poetry, Charles Dickens and the dazzling richness of other cultures which can be read here.
Print status: Pre-order
Author: Ibtisam Azem
Original language: Arabic
Format: B-Format Paperback
Publication date (UK): 25 August 2026
Publication date (US): 22 September 2026
ISBN: 9781916751538
Ebook ISBN: 9781916751545
Availability: Forthcoming
Number of pages: 128
Reviews
Alistair Braidwood
The Skinny
‘An insightful portrait of a young man, with everything that implies . . . by viewing his formative experiences of love, lust, drunkenness, and death, set against a backdrop of conflict and violence, the effects are profound, powerfully empathetic, and incredibly moving from first page to last.’
Sara Baume
Irish Times
‘Azem deftly evokes the daily grind of being an Arab in Israel . . . The Sleep Thief is about how trauma interrupts the flow of a life, to devastating effect.’ Sara Baume, Irish Times
Foreword Reviews
‘Ibtisam Azem’s oracular novel-in-stories The Sleep Thief concerns a Palestinian man’s experiences in his troubled homeland . . . The contrasts between never belonging to Israel as an Arab Palestinian, while still loving the ancestral land, are excavated with poignancy . . . Entrancing.’
Noura Erakat
‘Ibtisam Azem marvels us in The Sleep Thief. Azem has a unique ability to narrate the daily life of Palestinians made strangers in their homeland. With incisive precision and clever subtlety, we learn what it means to live among a settler society dressed in civilian clothing rather than fatigues. Meanwhile, we are so enthralled in Gharib’s intimate battle that we reach the book’s end unaware whether it was all a dream or if Gharib has slept at all. It will be difficult to read The Sleep Thief just once.’ Noura Erakat
Foreword Reviews
'Ibtisam Azem’s oracular novel-in-stories The Sleep Thief concerns a Palestinian man’s experiences in his troubled homeland . . . The contrasts between never belonging to Israel as an Arab Palestinian, while still loving the ancestral land, are excavated with poignancy . . . Entrancing.'
Molly Crabapple
‘The bohemian Gharib Haifawi is an irresistable guide through the dreams and nightmares of a Palestine that still exists despite the violent superimposition of the Israeli state. Written in prose that evokes in the spirits of Emile Habibi and Daniil Kharms, The Sleep Thief is a surreal, brilliant dagger of a book.’
Hannah Lillith Assadi
‘Ibtisam Azem's The Sleep Thief is the surreal and gorgeously imagined story of Palestinian Gharib Haifawi of Haifa. Rendered in the poetic register of a dream, this narrative tracks its protagonist's coming of age against the historical years between the Naksa and the Intifadas. This beautiful debut novel is a portrait of resistance, grief, and ultimate triumph.’
The International Booker Prize 2025 Judges (On The Book of Disappearance)
'Speculative and haunting, this is an exceptional exercise in memory-making and psycho-geography'
