The Stacks – Ep. 398: Writing Palestine Alive with Sarah Aziza

Host: Traci Thomas
Guest: Sara Aziza
Release Date: November 12, 2025

Episode Overview

In this powerful episode, Traci Thomas sits down with debut author and journalist Sarah Aziza to discuss The Hollow Half: A Memoir of Bodies and Borders. The conversation covers the intersection of Aziza's personal struggles with anorexia, her Palestinian family's history of displacement, the process of writing during an ongoing genocide, and the importance of bringing multiple, marginalized perspectives into memoir. The episode delves deep into issues of identity, trauma, lineage, resistance, and the craft of writing itself.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Sarah Returned to Writing, and Making Her Experience a Resource

• Sarah reflects on healing from trauma and sharing hard-won wisdom:

  “I wish I had been given any of these tools... so I really wanted to share as much of that as a resource just to be out in the world... maybe, you know, take some solace and comfort or like, wisdom, you know, without having to earn it the way I kind of paid for it.” (00:47)

• She describes the years of therapy, somatic work, and learning from over 100 thinkers/writers that shaped her personal and professional trajectory.

2. Genesis of The Hollow Half and the Genre of ‘Speculative Nonfiction’

• The book combines memoir, oral history, archival research, dreamwork, and "speculative nonfiction,” a term inspired by Saidiya Hartman's “critical fabulation.”

  “There are moments of like, imaginative leaps or in some instances... imagining towards meanings that cannot necessarily be factually codified or proven, but are sort of like, based around, like, the collaboration of like, ancestral work, imagination and research.” (04:54)

• Traci coins her own term, “memoir plus,” inspired by Aziza’s braided approach.

3. Exploring Lineage and Identity Through Diaspora, Displacement, and Recovery

• The book traces the journey from British Mandate Palestine, through the Nakba in 1948, displacement to Gaza and Saudi Arabia, and finally to Aziza’s life in New York City.
• Aziza’s inpatient treatment for anorexia in 2019 serves as both catalyst and structure for the memoir, as her journey toward healing becomes inseparable from her quest to understand inherited, collective trauma:

  “I was confronted with this Western model of mental health, which is just like very individualistic... and just like that model, just really not holding what I was holding. And then into that comes a lot of memory… the seed of like this must be about more than just me.” (07:08)

4. Footnotes and Multiple Canons: Challenging Authority & Embracing Collective Knowledge

• Aziza uses footnotes and endnotes innovatively to “jostle” the reader, honor influences, and complicate her own narrative:

  “I wanted it to not feel like I'm just this declarative voice... There are some footnotes that complicate or complement what I'm saying... I wanted there to be lots of Palestinians that people were getting introduced to, just, just other canons in general. I wanted to also pay homage and sort of honor, like, the people who taught me how to think in certain ways… If you take the time, you’ll be rewarded…” (15:19)

• Traci emphasizes the value of reading both the audiobook and print to fully experience the footnotes' structure and impact.

5. Black Feminist and Critical Theory Influences

• Major impact from writers such as bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Saidiya Hartman, and Christina Sharpe:

  “I can't remember not knowing about [bell hooks, Audre Lorde]... A lot of [these voices] had been in my ear since college... It's a complicated, ongoing thing, and I want to keep responsible and keep honest about that.” (20:53, 22:48)

6. Intimacy, Vulnerability, and Public Perception

• Aziza discusses the challenge of publicly dissecting personal body struggles, especially after writing with such vulnerability:

  “I put myself out a bit on a limb, but it's because I really believed in the message and the art... I've been lucky that I've been able to intentionally choose... where I have appeared publicly... people have come even more with tenderness towards me. So I've been grateful...” (34:17, 38:26)

7. Bodies and Borders: The Memoir’s Central Framework

• The title’s subtitle becomes a key topic:

  “My body is not separate, even if I wasn't physically there... The body is a language. It's an archive. It's a community... My body is what continued to point me back to... the bodies that I come from...” (30:02)

• Discussion of personal/political boundaries, and borders—both literal (nations, exile) and metaphoric (trauma, identity).

8. Writing About Palestine During Genocide

• Aziza describes the anguish and complexity of writing about Gaza as her family’s homeland was under attack:

  “I was trying to write Palestine alive while I was watching Palestine die... I was trying to resurrect parts of Gaza I had spent years getting the pieces together, and I was watching those same buildings fall... it was just unbelievably, still is unbelievably painful...” (41:40)

• She explains why her book ends before 2023, and how she reworked the concluding chapters to equip readers to interpret the “live-streamed genocide” and the resistance:

  “I changed the last chapter to be called resistance, because there’s always been resistance... I wanted to set people up with what I thought was a more complete and often overlooked history so they could understand a bit more the events today. And I think that resistance in some form is the highest form of love when the world as it exists is hostile to a dignified, safe life for the people that you love, whether it's black people in America or it's Palestinians in Palestine.” (46:09)

9. The Memoir as a Bridge Across Struggles

• Both Sarah and Traci reflect on how pulling in diverse liberatory voices breaks down boxes and shows the interconnectedness of various oppressions and solidarities.
• Explicit links are drawn with texts like Frankenstein (“Palestinians as the creation”), bell hooks, and Kiese Laymon.

10. Craft & Ritual: How Sara Writes

• Early mornings, a calm Brooklyn apartment room, lots of tea—especially Pu ehr and matamia (sage tea)—and the need to physically ground herself after writing:

  “Anything that gets me into someone else's subjectivity for a second. Or I'll do some breathing exercises...” (52:57)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the genre-bending in memoir:

  “Genre is always a fiction in itself... But I like that term. [speculative nonfiction]” (06:06)

• On footnotes and the authority of the writer:

  “Undermining this idea of the author as...the single, like, voice of authority... I wanted the story to... jostle... so there are some footnotes that complicate... what I'm saying in a way I found interesting.” (15:19)

• On recognizing privilege and solidarity:

  “Palestinians are some of the most demonized people right now... but I also benefit from systematic oppression that is built on, you know, centuries before my people were dispossessed, there was a genocide here... There needs to be a reckoning of who has been... part of harming another.” (22:48)

• On writing about the Gaza genocide as it happened:

  “I was trying to write Palestine alive while I was watching Palestine die. I was... watching those same buildings fall... It was just unbelievably, still is unbelievably painful.” (41:40)

• On resistance as love:

  “Resistance in some form is the highest form of love when the world as it exists is hostile to a dignified, safe life for the people that you love, whether it's black people in America or Palestinians in Palestine.” (46:09)

• On legacy and hope:

  “If I could have one person, dead or alive, read the book... I think my situ, my grandmother. I wish she could be there. But, you know, I also know that she's here in some way.” (56:47)

Noteworthy Timestamps

• 00:47 – Sara on sharing healing & why she wrote the book
• 04:00–06:22 – Defining the book’s form: speculative nonfiction, “memoir plus,” braiding genres
• 07:08–11:28 – Discussing anorexia, family narrative, and Western models of mental health
• 15:19–19:59 – Philosophy and function of footnotes/endnotes
• 20:53–24:29 – Black feminist canon and complex solidarities
• 29:05–34:17 – “Bodies and Borders” as central metaphor
• 38:26–41:00 – Navigating public vulnerability after writing about her body
• 41:40–47:05 – Writing as the Gaza genocide unfolded, changing the final chapters
• 50:38–53:35 – Rituals and practicalities of Sara’s writing process
• 54:55–56:34 – What’s next, and what she wishes was in the book
• 56:47 – Who Sara most wishes could read the memoir

Takeaways

The Hollow Half is more than a memoir; it's a multi-vocal, genre-bending exploration of bodily, generational, and national trauma and healing. Sarah Aziza’s work answers the violence of erasure with both personal truth and polyphonic community, insisting that the story of Palestine—and of survival itself—spans borders, bodies, and resisting the simple neatness of genre or identity. It’s recommended to read the physical copy to experience the artful use of footnotes and text layout.

For listeners:
If you’re seeking deeply honest, artfully crafted writing that bridges individual and collective histories—and wish to understand both the stakes and the solidarity of Palestinian storytelling—this episode is essential.