His debut collection weaves a Palestinian perspective into the narrative, offering a nuanced portrayal of characters navigating the challenging terrain of dual identities.

By Nageen Riaz

Her First Palestinian earned finalist honors in the 2022 Atwood Gibson Writers's Trust Fiction Prize and secured a spot on the shortlist for the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize (Caelan Monkman/CanCulture)

Canadian immigrants and those who have experienced displacement are intimately familiar with the feelings of loss, betrayal and helplessness. For some, the struggle to feel at home between two worlds can prove to be a difficult battle, and becomes one which feels more like a purging of their old life rather than a journey to build a new one.

Over the course of his career, Toronto-based lawyer and writer Saeed Teebi has become all too familiar with these emotions. His debut short story collection, Her First Palestinian, offers readers a Palestinian-Canadian perspective for understanding the complex feelings of anxiety, pain and guilt that come with witnessing injustice in your homeland from an ocean away.

The nine stories within the pages of Her First Palestinian candidly portray the historical reality of Israeli violence, but refuse to succumb to a narrative dominated entirely by victimhood or a sense of suffering. Instead, characters are presented as doctors, professors and lawyers who live ‘full’ lives with their families and loved ones. Teebi ensures his characters do not conform to the stereotypes associated with being Palestinian and allows his stories to showcase the complex personalities that go beyond just a nationality. Characters are self-aware of their careful decision not to appear too loud, expressive or angry, as these emotions may automatically label them as the “typical Arab.” Instead, readers are invited to witness the inner workings of these characters as they recognize their own desperate helplessness through the direct and confessional first-person narration.

Still, Teebi does not turn a blind eye to the invisible string that attaches each person to their homeland. Each of the characters, who are Palestinians living in Canada, experience remorse and fear in their day-to-day lives in a variety of ways as they attempt to navigate a hostile world, often at the expense of their beliefs and duty to their Palestinian community. Moreover, by referencing recent world affairs, with some plots touching on the impact of COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement, Teebi creates a sense of homogenous relatability, regardless of the reader's personal proximity to the Palestinian resistance.

Her First Palestinian brilliantly reflects the Palestinian community within Canada, commenting on every emotion, action — or lack thereof — and every heartwarming interaction that truly defines its people. With each story comes new characters, new problems, new twists and new emotions, making Her First Palestinian impossible to put down. Coming in at just over 200 pages, the book keeps readers on the edge of their seats as they try to keep up with the frustrations, happiness and heartbreak that washes over them with each narrative.

In the wide world of Canadian literature, Her First Palestinian stands as a complex, intricately crafted piece of fiction — explorative, confident and struck by the harsh realities of immigrant life: A father who refuses to carry the burden of his people, a lonely college student desperate to impress his roommates, a grandfather on the hunt for his lost love, a professor realizing his identity strips him of his rights, an entrepreneur that does the unthinkable for the sake of his family. Teebi beautifully blends the line between the desire to start a new life elsewhere and finding comfort in belonging to a place where resistance and hope will always persevere.

Her First Palestinian was a finalist for the 2022 Atwood Gibson Writers’s Trust Fiction Prize and shortlisted for the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize. The book is making waves in literary circles and offers a voice for the stories that often go unheard and unrepresented. Journalists adhering to CBC’s recent language guide are not permitted to refer to Palestine as a country or show a map of Palestine, but, through Teebi’s narratives of Palestinians trying to exist in a world that seems to work against them, the landscape of Canadian literature shifts to dismantle these barriers, guard towers and checkpoints.

Readers can find a copy of Her First Palestinian at most libraries, including the Toronto Public Library and the Toronto Metropolitan University campus library. The book is also available for purchase on the House of Anansi Press website, the publication house that first released the collection in 2022.

Palestinian protesters decide to make a stand as Canada continues to ignore the genocide in Gaza.

By Hannah Mercanti

A title in bold reads ‘Canada’s banks: investing in genocide.’ In red: Scotiabank: $500 million in Elbit Systems, the largest foreign shareholder in the Israeli arms manufacturer. In blue: Bank of Montreal: $90 million loan to Elbit Systems in 2021. — **A multicoloured graphic displaying the amounts of money Canada’s banks have invested in Israeli arms manufacturers. (@michaeldeforgecomics/Instagram)**

It's a still November evening at the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Authors, readers, and Canadian visionaries stream into the glamorous Four Seasons Hotel in Yorkville in downtown Toronto, sheathed in an array of fine fabrics and colours like a brigade of fancy parrots flying south for the winter.

Inside, the stage is wide and expansive, and behind it, the Giller Prize Logo floats on a Scotiabank-red tinted screen. As attendees file in and take their seats, Canada’s most prestigious literary gala and awards event begins.

Rick Mercer is hosting, and as he walks across the stage, two unidentified audience members take to the stage with signs that simply read, “SCOTIABANK FUNDS GENOCIDE.”

As they clambered to the front of the stage and hauled themselves up, another member of the audience began to shout, “Scotiabank currently has a 500-million dollar stake in Elbit systems.”

Elbit Systems — an Israel-based arms manufacturer and defence contractor — is the country’s largest private arms company. According to The Database of Israeli Military and Security Export, Elbit manufactures about 85 per cent of the Israeli military’s land-based equipment and drones. Additionally, Elbit Systems is “one of the main providers” of the electronic detection fence system for the Israeli West Bank barrier, a border wall which is illegal under international law.

In 2022, BNN Bloomberg reported that Scotiabank’s asset management arm held a 5 per cent share of Elbit Systems (US$440 million), making the bank “the largest foreign shareholder in a publicly traded Israeli defence contractor.” Despite public outcry and other financial groups pulling their investments from the defence contractor in recent years, Scotiabank has maintained its investment in the Israeli company.

The protest group was quickly escorted out by police and later arrested, said Giller spokesperson Robyn Mogil, according to the Globe and Mail.

The event was interrupted for a second time as Canadiana author Sarah Bernstein was being announced as the winner for her novel Study for Obedience. This time, a protester disguised as a photographer began shouting at the stage before being walked out by authorities and arrested.

Canadian writers have since expressed their shock and anger at the arrest of the protestors. To show their support for the protestors and for Palestine at large, a group of Canadian authors have written an open letter to the Canadian government to drop the charges against the protestors.

Farzana Doctor is one of the many authors involved in the creation of this letter.

“The morning after the Scotiabank Giller Gala, a few authors came together to talk about our reactions to the protest at the ceremony,” wrote Doctor in an email to CanCulture. “We were troubled that protesters were forcibly removed, reportedly held for three hours, and charged.

During the gala, “protesters were booed by the audience and forcibly removed, and after the event ended, they were reportedly detained by police for three hours, and are now facing charges,” reads the open letter.

According to an article from CTV, the protestors were charged with obstructing, interrupting, and/or interfering with the lawful use, enjoyment or operation of property and use of a forged document. “These are serious charges,” says Doctor. She says the point of the letter is to ask for the charges against the protestors to be dropped, and an opportunity for authors to show their support for Palestine and call for a ceasefire.

“We ask all of our literary institutions to be loud where our governments and news outlets have been silent,” reads the letter. The letter details Israel’s attacks and ongoing assault on Palestine, and urges our government to say something and call for a ceasefire.

In the days after the protest, Elena Rabinovich, executive director of the Giller Prize, made a statement in which she described the protests as, “disrespect to Canadian authors, and their literary achievements that were made throughout the year.”

Doctor says it was important for all those who signed and took part in the creation to express that “we do not feel it was disrespectful.” As of their last count, she reported over 2200 signatures for the Canadian Literature commuting, including Sarah Bernstein, this year's winner of the Giller Prize, and winners from past years.

Though the Google Form is now closed, Canadian writers and editors who would like to support are encouraged by Doctor to do so, and can sign by emailing @authorsrespond@gmail.com.

Doctor urges readers and writers to sign petitions before the Canadian government, call their representatives, attend protests, and share awareness on social media.

“There is significant silence on the topic both on the part of our representatives and the media,” she says. “We all have a role in interrupting that silence.”