For most Christian Philadelphians, Christmas is a fading memory, but tonight, January 19, Philadelphia’s Coptic Christians are slated to celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany and officially close out the Christmas season. Many of the estimated 500 Coptic families living in the greater Philadelphia region will attend tonight’s evening mass at St. George Coptic Orthodox Church in Norristown, PA, where there will be a special water blessing prayer and liturgy followed by an anointing ritual.

Since October 7, Israel has killed approximately 22,835 Palestinians and wounded 58,416 others, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. In the face of the ongoing genocide, one Philadelphia art collective has devised a unique approach to generating support for Palestine. Batikh Batikh has organized a Palestinian film series, but rather than having attendees purchase tickets, they’re asking them to show proof that they've contacted their elected officials to demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Two militant artists whom Tolan-Szkilnik writes about in the book are Algerian poet-militant Jean Sénac, who was assassinated in 1973 in Algiers, and Moroccan poet, novelist, and political activist, Abdellatif Laâbi. When Tolan-Szkilnik gifted a copy of her book to Laâbi, he told her, “You are doing so much to restore the memory of this generation.”

“From the river to sea, Palestine will be free,” chanted an estimated 220 Philadelphians who marched from Rittenhouse Square to City Hall on October 8, at an emergency rally in solidarity with Palestine.

Despite a defamatory attack on Palestine Writes Literature Festival by some Zionist American Jewish organizations, the sold-out event proceeded more or less as planned, minus a few glitches. An estimated 1,300 attendees converged at the University of Pennsylvania to celebrate Palestinian literature and Palestinian writers at the weekend long event held from September 22-24.

In their new photo exhibit, “La La Lil Jidar: 20 Years Behind the Apartheid Wall in Palestine,” Philadelphia-based photographer Aisha Mershani (they/them) documents the devastating impact that Israel’s apartheid wall has had on Palestinian life since Israel began construction in 2002.