The Sleep Thief
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The Sleep Thief
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Narrated by:
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By:
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Ibtisam Azem
From Booker-longlisted Ibtisam Azem, a haunting odyssey where rest must be stolen at high price, and “Palestine” is a honeyed defiance on the tongue.
“Sleep thief is what the interrogator called me. I’ll never forget that. I would steal a few seconds of sleep so I could remain steadfast before them. The name stuck; I even dreamt about it, the same dream, night after night. I woke up not knowing what to do and drenched in sweat.”
The Sleep Thief follows the life of Gharib (“the Stranger”) Haifawi as he comes of age, is drawn into resistance, makes friends, meets lovers, pushes back against traditional values, longs to be free of the labels and expectations that burden him, rails against the commodification of suffering, and dreams of a Palestinian identity that will transcend sorrow.
©2011 Ibtisam Azem. Originally published in Arabic as Sariq al-Nawm by Al Kamel Verlag in 2011. Translation copyright © 2026 by Sinan Antoon (P)2026 Blackstone PublishingCritic Reviews
“The bohemian Gharib Haifawi is an irresistible guide through the dreams and nightmares of a Palestine that still exists despite the violent superimposition of the Israeli state. Written in prose that evokes in the spirits of Emile Habibi and Daniil Kharms, The Sleep Thief is a surreal, brilliant dagger of a book.”
“Ibtisam Azem’s The Sleep Thief is the surreal and gorgeously imagined story of Palestinian Gharib Haifawi of Haifa. Rendered in the poetic register of a dream, this narrative tracks its protagonist’s coming of age against the historical years between the Naksa and the Intifadas. This beautiful debut novel is a portrait of resistance, grief, and ultimate triumph.”