Cactus Pear for My Beloved
 | |
| Author | Samah Sabawi |
|---|---|
| Genre | Memoir |
| Publisher | Penguin Random House |
| Publication date | 17 September 2024 |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Pages | 336 |
| ISBN | 9781761344978 |
Cactus Pear for My Beloved is a 2024 book by Palestinian-Australian author Samah Sabawi.[1] The book recounts the life of Sabawi's father Abdul Karim Sabawi, a Palestinian poet whose family experienced the Nakba during his childhood and who was exiled from Gaza after the Six-Day War, eventually settling in Queensland.[2]
Reception
The book was reviewed in The Conversation,[2] The Saturday Paper,[3] The Age,[4] and the Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies.[5] In her review for The Conversation, Michelle Hamadache praised Sabawi's ability to blend a deeply-researched historical account of her family history with fictionalised and dramatised elements.[2] The book was shortlisted for the Stella Prize, where the judging panel wrote that the book had a "glorious sweeping scope and a light, elegant touch".[6]
Awards
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Stella Prize | — | Shortlisted | [7][6] |
| NSW Literary Awards | Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction | Shortlisted | [8] | |
| Prime Minister's Literary Award | Nonfiction | Shortlisted | [9] | |
References
- ↑ "Cactus Pear For My Beloved". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
- 1 2 3 Hamadache, Michelle (21 October 2024). "Exile, resistance and cactus pears: two Australian writers' depictions of Palestinian life weave a powerful tapestry of stories". The Conversation. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
- ↑ Grbec, Monique (21 September 2024). "Cactus Pear for My Beloved". The Saturday Paper. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
- ↑ Ayoub, Sarah (13 December 2024). "A moving insight into one Palestinian family's generations of survival". The Age. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
- ↑ Sahhar, Micaela (April 2025). "Samah Sabawi, Cactus Pear for My Beloved: A Family Story from Gaza". Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies. 24 (1): 121–123. doi:10.3366/hlps.2025.0354.
- 1 2 "Samah Sabawi – Cactus Pear For My Beloved". Stella Prize. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
- ↑ Jefferson, Dee (7 April 2025). "Stella Prize 2025: Shortlist entirely women of colour for the first time in award's history". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
- ↑ "Cactus Pear For My Beloved". State Library of New South Wales. 27 April 2025. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
- ↑ "Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2025 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 12 August 2025. Retrieved 29 September 2025.