In this episode of the Sumud Podcast, we sit down with Palestinian poet, translator, and physician Dr. Fady Joudah to discuss his newly released book, Exhibit G: Poems, Essays, and Photographs from Inside Gaza. Through poetry, photography, and personal reflection, Fady explores the realities of Palestinian life, the weight of distance and belonging, and the responsibility of telling stories without reducing people to their suffering. He shares the inspiration behind the book, his work with Palestinian photographers and writers, and the importance of preserving the humanity, history, and voices of those living through unimaginable circumstances. The conversation also examines the relationship between art, language, censorship, solidarity, and accountability, while reflecting on family history, displacement, grief, forgiveness, and the enduring strength of the Palestinian people. Fady offers a deeply personal perspective on what it means to live between worlds, to witness suffering from afar, and to continue creating in the face of loss.

Fady Joudah is the author of […], a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and Exhibit G. His other poetic works include: The Earth in the Attic; Alight; Textu, a book-long sequence of short poems whose meter is based on cellphone character count; Footnotes in the Order of Disappearance; and Tethered to Stars. He has translated several collections of poetry from Arabic and is the co-editor and co-founder of the Etel Adnan Poetry Prize. He was a winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition and has received the Jackson Poetry Prize, a PEN award, a Banipal/Times Literary Supplement prize from the UK, the Griffin Poetry Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Arab American Book Award. He lives in Houston, with his wife and kids, where he practices internal medicine.

In this conversation, we explore
→ Dr. Fady Joudah’s new book Exhibit G and the inspiration behind its poems, essays, and photographs
→ How Palestinian photographers capture humanity, childhood, and everyday life beyond the headlines
→ The relationship between art, language, censorship, and the representation of Palestinian experiences
→ The emotional weight of living between the realities of Palestine and the United States
→ Family history, displacement, inherited memory, and the stories that connect generations
→ Solidarity, accountability, forgiveness, and the importance of listening to Palestinian voices
→ Finding tenderness, resilience, and humanity through art, grief, and the ongoing struggle for dignity

Director: Dr. Ed Hasan | 2026