Shahd Alnaouq

A Palestinian writer and translator from Gaza. She studies English literature and translation at the Islamic University of Gaza, writing through the noise of war and turning survival into language.

“Should I introduce myself? Perhaps I should. But what can I say except: I am Gazan.? Gazan by blood, by language, by time, by loss, and by love. I write to you from the core of Gaza’s midnight, where bombs fall louder than sleep, where neighbors vanish, and where the only witness left to my heart is paper. I do not know if these poems will ever reach you, or if I will be carried away as a martyr before finishing them. But if you are reading this, then you hold not just poems, but fragments of a beating heart that refuses to be silenced.

Shahd is the author of Our Pulse Against the Drones, illustrated by Jana Ames.

Our Pulse Against the Drones

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November 22, 2025
Our Pulse Against the Drones

Quiet notes of the heart form a melody of survival in this collection of 22 original poems. A voice is not just a voice in Gaza. It is a pulse and a testament to the strength of the human spirit to outlast the severest measures of force and demolish brutal arguments with tender truths.

Recent Interview with Mind & Matter

Mind&Matter
Talking With Gazan Creative; Shahd Alnaouq
This audio interview was completed between November 1st-2nd 2025, conducted and hosted by Into Hinterland Literary. To find Shahd’s anthology of poetry, head over to here…
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Email: shahdalnaoq@gmail.com

Send proof donation to coastallinespress@gmail.com to receive a digital or print copy of Our Pulse Against the Drones. For print copies, include your full name and address in the email.

Other works by Shahd:

Beyond Words

https://wearenotnumbers.org/i-tremble/