{"id":35726,"date":"2024-12-20T10:15:38","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T08:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/?p=35726"},"modified":"2025-08-19T15:42:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:42:21","slug":"maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Maya Abu Al-Hayyat’s Defiant Exploration of Palestinian Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
Maya Abu Al-Hayyat\u2019s No One Knows Their Blood Type<\/em> crafts a deeply intimate portrayal of Palestinian life, offering a nuanced, defiant exploration of identity, memory and belonging.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

No One Knows Their Blood Type<\/em>, a novel by Maya Abu Al-Hayyat
\nTranslated by Hazem Jamjoum
\nCleveland State University Poetry Center<\/a>\u00a02024
\nISBN 9798989708413<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Zahra Hankir<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

In his piercing afterword to Maya Abu Al-Hayyat\u2019s novel No One Knows Their Blood Type, <\/em>Palestinian translator Hazem Jamjoum asks, \u201cWhat do we center when we want to speak to us<\/em>? When we’re not trying to tell others about what we fight against and what we fight for when we fight for freedom?\u201d Jamjoum invites us to imagine a discourse unbound by the burden of explanation to the foreigner \u2014 one that flows from a deeply intimate knowledge of shared struggle, memory, and aspiration.<\/p>\n

By centering this question of narrative ownership, Jamjoum highlights the radical potential of Palestinian stories like Abu Al-Hayyat\u2019s to resist erasure. He reframes the text not as a plea for understanding from Western readers \u2014 an assumption some might make given its English translation \u2014 but as a reclamation. On the decision to translate from the mother tongue, he insists, \u201cAs a majority exile society, one whose colonizer’s strategic objectives revolve primarily around ensuring that as few of us remain anywhere near the land that unites us as possible, to be Palestinian is not necessarily to read Arabic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"No<\/a>
No One Knows Their Blood Type<\/em> is published by CSU Poetry Center<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No One Knows Their Blood Type<\/em><\/a> embodies this focus on self-centered storytelling, where Abu Al-Hayyat refuses to indulge in trauma. Instead, she immerses readers in the complexities of Palestinian life, including \u2014 but crucially not limited to \u2014 the oft-repeated notion of resilience, or sum\u016bd<\/em>. Her narratives are alive with joy, secrets, betrayal, humor, love, care, and connection. The slim novel reflects an intimate, inward gaze, declining to offer itself up for voyeuristic consumption. As such, it transcends Western-imposed binaries of victimhood and heroism, weaving together both the mundane and the turbulent.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

First published in Arabic in 2013, No One Knows Their Blood Type<\/em> traces the lives of Palestinian characters across different epochs and locations. The story begins in 2007 in Jerusalem with the death of Malika, a revered midwife, whose passing sets a series of life-changing events into motion. Jumana, who is grappling with her father\u2019s illness in the same hospital, comes upon a startling revelation about her blood type that throws into question everything she believes about herself: Could she, after all this time, not be the daughter of her father or the sister of her sister? Could she, by extension, not even be Palestinian? And what would this mean in practice when her lineage has shaped her entire life?<\/p>\n

Jumana\u2019s childhood was already fraught with upheaval. Her father, a PLO fighter-turned-administrator, moved her and her sister Yara from Beirut to various other cities, separating them from their Lebanese mother. The nonlinear story reflects these movements, tracing a journey that mirrors the author’s own life as a Palestinian across Jerusalem, Beirut, Amman, and Tunis. We follow Jumana and Yara as they navigate family estrangement, displacement, motherhood, and marriage. Alongside their relationships with their difficult father, the book incorporates the lives of extended family and community members.<\/p>\n

Through shifting timelines, No One Knows Their Blood Type<\/em> attempts to preserve a sense of home \u2014 an elusive and fluid concept. \u201cHow do you return somewhere you’ve never been?\u201d contemplates Yara. \u201cI don’t understand why we have to feel how everyone wants us to feel. The only things I know about Palestine are what Mr. Khairy, the history teacher, tried to teach us, making us memorize our country’s map while threatening us with his shoe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The novella shuns neat narratives. It foregrounds the messiness of survival under Israeli occupation and the sobering realities of life in exile. Women are central to the story \u2014 they are at once mothers and daughters, docile and furious, caretakers and rebels. Often, they shoulder the burdens of nurturing familial bonds while confronting patriarchy. One such thread culminates in an act of brutality so casually executed that it chills with its stark realism. Here, the woman\u2019s body itself becomes both battleground and resistor.<\/p>\n

The book’s titular metaphor evokes a quiet tension between visibility and erasure. Bloodlines become markers of belonging and dislocation, offering strength while also underscoring the weight of exclusion. Though the book\u2019s themes are heavy, Abu Al-Hayyat’s prose \u2014 rendered beautifully by Jamjoum \u2014 carries a light touch, coaxing this reader into laughter as frequently as reflection. (In one scene, Jumana\u2019s daughter micturates on the road \u201clike an Olympic champion in the sport of roadside urination.\u201d In another, Abu Al Saeed imagines telling his office director, \u201cYou’re as inconsequential as a puddle.\u201d) Jamjoum’s debut literary translation is unforced and lyrical, bridging worlds without diluting the text’s essence. The language is layered, somehow sparing, while also overflowing with abundance.<\/p>\n

In the context of Israel\u2019s ongoing genocide in Gaza, No One Knows Their Blood Type<\/em> feels especially urgent, though one could argue this urgency is not new. The novella does not seek to explain Palestinian resistance but rather to root it in the textures of everyday life. As Jamjoum writes in the afterword, the narrative \u201cassumes the grotesque facets of the workings of power and conducts its conversation with whoever recognizes themselves as already in the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within these pages, the reader enters doors that may otherwise be closed and is invited to examine rich inner lives that evade reductive depictions. Even the novel’s most troubled characters find solace in interpreting and reinterpreting their lives, consequently repudiating the elimination the occupation seeks relentlessly to impose.<\/p>\n

This is perhaps the novel’s greatest achievement: its refusal to romanticize suffering or simplify its characters’ struggles. “We should talk about love and hope,” Abu Al-Hayyat said during an online event<\/a> marking the book’s launch. “I hate romanticizing… what’s happening; it’s brutality, it’s killing, it’s the worst thing happening in humanity. But we need to talk about this through literature and art saved me. I think it can save the new generation and maybe other generations.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zahra Hankir reviews Hazem Jamjoum’s English translation of Palestinian novelist Maya Abu Al-Hayyat’s novel “No One Knows Their Blood Type.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":803,"featured_media":35734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2656,51],"tags":[323,4159,614,627,916,1288,1321],"article-category":[4657],"article-type":[],"coauthors":[4157],"class_list":["post-35726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-books","category-tmr-weekly","tag-beirut","tag-dislocation","tag-exile","tag-family","tag-israeli-occupation","tag-palestine","tag-palestinian-resistance","article-category-weekly"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMaya Abu Al-Hayyat's Defiant Exploration of Palestinian Life - The Markaz Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Zahra Hankir reviews Hazem Jamjoum's English translation of Palestinian novelist Maya Abu Al-Hayyat's novel "No One Knows Their Blood Type."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maya Abu Al-Hayyat's Defiant Exploration of Palestinian Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Zahra Hankir reviews Hazem Jamjoum's English translation of Palestinian novelist Maya Abu Al-Hayyat's novel "No One Knows Their Blood Type."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Markaz Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-20T08:15:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-19T13:42:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Maya-Abu-Al-Hayyat-in-Jerusalem-courtesy-of-the-author.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zahra Hankir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zahra Hankir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Zahra Hankir\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a3298066c8be0175a47052e325c3ad33\"},\"headline\":\"Maya Abu Al-Hayyat’s Defiant Exploration of Palestinian Life\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-20T08:15:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-19T13:42:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1057,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/Maya-Abu-Al-Hayyat-in-Jerusalem-courtesy-of-the-author.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Beirut\",\"dislocation\",\"exile\",\"family\",\"Israeli Occupation\",\"Palestine\",\"Palestinian Resistance\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Book Reviews\",\"Books\",\"Weekly\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\\\/\",\"name\":\"Maya Abu Al-Hayyat's Defiant Exploration of Palestinian Life - The Markaz Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/Maya-Abu-Al-Hayyat-in-Jerusalem-courtesy-of-the-author.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-20T08:15:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-19T13:42:21+00:00\",\"description\":\"Zahra Hankir reviews Hazem Jamjoum's English translation of Palestinian novelist Maya Abu Al-Hayyat's novel \\\"No One Knows Their Blood Type.\\\"\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/Maya-Abu-Al-Hayyat-in-Jerusalem-courtesy-of-the-author.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/Maya-Abu-Al-Hayyat-in-Jerusalem-courtesy-of-the-author.jpg\",\"width\":1400,\"height\":1050,\"caption\":\"Poet-novelist Maya Abu Al-Hayyat at home in Jerusalem (courtesy of the author).\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Maya Abu Al-Hayyat’s Defiant Exploration of Palestinian Life\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Markaz Review\",\"description\":\"Literature and Arts from the Center of the World\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Markaz Review\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/cropped-New-2023-TMR-Logo-500-pix.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/cropped-New-2023-TMR-Logo-500-pix.jpg\",\"width\":473,\"height\":191,\"caption\":\"The Markaz Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a3298066c8be0175a47052e325c3ad33\",\"name\":\"Zahra Hankir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/355fc45c86d567758f575d818b5fe4ce5877634af8da145f5dc1252c3c772c19?s=96&d=mm&r=ga11032b07f12b97e82037d51edc2d6ec\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/355fc45c86d567758f575d818b5fe4ce5877634af8da145f5dc1252c3c772c19?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/355fc45c86d567758f575d818b5fe4ce5877634af8da145f5dc1252c3c772c19?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zahra Hankir\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/themarkaz.org\\\/oldmarkaz\\\/author\\\/zahrahankir\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Maya Abu Al-Hayyat's Defiant Exploration of Palestinian Life - The Markaz Review","description":"Zahra Hankir reviews Hazem Jamjoum's English translation of Palestinian novelist Maya Abu Al-Hayyat's novel \"No One Knows Their Blood Type.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Maya Abu Al-Hayyat's Defiant Exploration of Palestinian Life","og_description":"Zahra Hankir reviews Hazem Jamjoum's English translation of Palestinian novelist Maya Abu Al-Hayyat's novel \"No One Knows Their Blood Type.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/","og_site_name":"The Markaz Review","article_published_time":"2024-12-20T08:15:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-19T13:42:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1400,"height":1050,"url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Maya-Abu-Al-Hayyat-in-Jerusalem-courtesy-of-the-author.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Zahra Hankir","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Zahra Hankir","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/"},"author":{"name":"Zahra Hankir","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/#\/schema\/person\/a3298066c8be0175a47052e325c3ad33"},"headline":"Maya Abu Al-Hayyat’s Defiant Exploration of Palestinian Life","datePublished":"2024-12-20T08:15:38+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-19T13:42:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/"},"wordCount":1057,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Maya-Abu-Al-Hayyat-in-Jerusalem-courtesy-of-the-author.jpg","keywords":["Beirut","dislocation","exile","family","Israeli Occupation","Palestine","Palestinian Resistance"],"articleSection":["Book Reviews","Books","Weekly"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/","url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/","name":"Maya Abu Al-Hayyat's Defiant Exploration of Palestinian Life - The Markaz Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Maya-Abu-Al-Hayyat-in-Jerusalem-courtesy-of-the-author.jpg","datePublished":"2024-12-20T08:15:38+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-19T13:42:21+00:00","description":"Zahra Hankir reviews Hazem Jamjoum's English translation of Palestinian novelist Maya Abu Al-Hayyat's novel \"No One Knows Their Blood Type.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Maya-Abu-Al-Hayyat-in-Jerusalem-courtesy-of-the-author.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Maya-Abu-Al-Hayyat-in-Jerusalem-courtesy-of-the-author.jpg","width":1400,"height":1050,"caption":"Poet-novelist Maya Abu Al-Hayyat at home in Jerusalem (courtesy of the author)."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/maya-abu-al-hayyats-defiant-exploration-of-palestinian-life\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Maya Abu Al-Hayyat’s Defiant Exploration of Palestinian Life"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/#website","url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/","name":"The Markaz Review","description":"Literature and Arts from the Center of the World","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/#organization","name":"The Markaz Review","url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/cropped-New-2023-TMR-Logo-500-pix.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/cropped-New-2023-TMR-Logo-500-pix.jpg","width":473,"height":191,"caption":"The Markaz Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/#\/schema\/person\/a3298066c8be0175a47052e325c3ad33","name":"Zahra Hankir","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/355fc45c86d567758f575d818b5fe4ce5877634af8da145f5dc1252c3c772c19?s=96&d=mm&r=ga11032b07f12b97e82037d51edc2d6ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/355fc45c86d567758f575d818b5fe4ce5877634af8da145f5dc1252c3c772c19?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/355fc45c86d567758f575d818b5fe4ce5877634af8da145f5dc1252c3c772c19?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Zahra Hankir"},"url":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/author\/zahrahankir\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/803"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35726"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38953,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35726\/revisions\/38953"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35726"},{"taxonomy":"article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-category?post=35726"},{"taxonomy":"article-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-type?post=35726"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=35726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}