Her First Palestinian

Finalist for the 2022 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize

Elegant, surprising stories about Palestinian immigrants in Canada navigating their identities in circumstances that push them to the emotional brink.

Saeed Teebi's intense, engrossing stories plunge into the lives of characters grappling with their experiences as Palestinian immigrants to Canada. A doctor teaches his girlfriend about his country, only for her to fall into a consuming obsession with the Middle East conflict. A math professor risks his family's destruction by slandering the king of a despotic, oil-rich country. A university student invents an imaginary girlfriend to fit in with his callous, womanizing roommates. A lawyer takes on the impossible mission of becoming a body smuggler. A lonely widower travels to Russia in search of a movie starlet he met in his youth in historical Jaffa. A refugee who escaped violent circumstances rebels against the kindness of his sponsor. These taut and compelling stories engage the immigrant experience and reflect the Palestinian diaspora with grace and insight.

“In Her First Palestinian Saeed Teebi brilliantly and skillfully evokes the Palestinian diaspora experience, weaving stories of displacement, longing, and loss. His characters, drawn with great empathy and insight, are immigrants and refugees, misfits and outsiders, striving to fit in a complex, modern world while carrying the burden of history. Intelligent, original, and bursting with vitality, Her First Palestinian is an assured and highly accomplished debut that will stay with you long after you finish reading.” — Ayelet Tsabari, author of The Art of Leaving

“Saeed Teebi is a patient storyteller. He weaves his stories through glimpses of heritage, snippets of immigration, and depth of understanding. In Her First Palestinian, Teebi introduces us to complex and endearing characters. They all ring so true; they feel like half siblings or dear cousins. They are never loud or invasive. They are inviting and warm. Almost friendly as they tell you of themselves, their history, and the personal and societal roads they have to take. However, their wound is always internal, hidden under their agency, prosperity, and the most basic human need of them all: belonging.” — Danny Ramadan, author of The Foghorn Echoes

“A gorgeous debut collection of short stories so complex and rich they make me think that Saeed Teebi has been writing for many years. ” — Hasan Namir, author of God in Pink

“This beautiful collection not only brings to light the varied and sometimes fraught experiences of diasporic Palestinians but does so with masterful storytelling. These stories are rich and deep, with elegant, tragic, or funny twists that will stay in my mind for a long time.” — Farzana Doctor, author of Seven

“Saeed Teebi's Her First Palestinian is an exciting contribution to contemporary Palestinian diaspora literature. His characters grapple with overzealous allies, privilege, and polite discrimination, as well as forging new identities without quite managing to shed inherited ones. With sharp wit and humour, Teebi delivers a range of stories that are pleasingly new as they reverberate familiar themes of loss and triumph.” — Sahar Mustafah, author of The Beauty of Your Face

“Saeed Teebi writes with Chekhovian intentionality and Nabokovian rumination. These are stories about modesty or vanity, kindness or treachery, timidity or wit. In the author’s intelligent grasp we find a heartbreaking tenacity for connection to the here and now and to the land between the river and the sea.” — Nyla Matuk, author of Stranger

“Dispatches from the state of exile, these stories are filled with delightful, devastating turns as Teebi explores the endless fracturing of displacement.” — Rebecca Sacks, author of City of a Thousand Gates

“Saeed Teebi’s Her First Palestinian is a powerful and propulsive debut collection of stories that dramatizes the experiences of the Palestinian diaspora. Compelling and complex characters displaced and removed from their historical homeland negotiate feelings of loss, estrangement, and complicity in Canada. Skillfully written with penetrating insight into the characters’ fractured identities, this book reveals a talented new Canadian voice.” — Jury Citation, Danuta Gleed Literary Award

“Sometimes a writer comes along whose stories are not only complex and full and exquisitely written, but whose vision and political voice feels necessary. In Her First Palestinian, Saeed Teebi coaxes the reader in a certain direction, and then flips the narrative so that now we are complicit, and we see our own guilt in the great divide that exists between the privileged and the stranger. Teebi does this with subtle humour and a wry tone. He does not preach, yet his writing expresses a certain fervour that is essential. He is a vital voice.” — Jury Citation, Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize

“Teebi perfectly captures intergenerational and intercultural tension in stories as brilliant and cutting as finely hewn diamonds.” — Booklist

“Dryly witty and cynical ... Teebi’s prose is crisp and calmly civilized.” — Winnipeg Free Press

“If humanising Palestinians without purposefully tugging on heartstrings is what Teebi set out to do, he has accomplished his goal with aplomb. His stories — original, intelligent and finely nuanced — present characters who, although vastly different, are united in a uniquely Palestinian form of loneliness, one that stems from feeling out of place in a world that sees them as a nuisance.” — The National News

“Each story in Teebi’s collection crackles with wit, intensity and elegance … A probing and absolutely unforgettable book. ” — The Miramichi Reader

“A deeply moving collection.” — Shelf Awareness

“Her First Palestinian is a layered, fully imagined work of fiction: probing, sure of itself, astounded by life’s cruelties and surprising joys and by its ironies large and small.” — Literary Review of Canada

“With intriguing plot-lines, nuanced characters and stunning prose … Her First Palestinian is an invitation to read the room and engage critically as conversations about Palestine, familial and romantic relationships, and moral conflicts permeate the walls.” — Maisonneuve

“Cutting against this grain, Teebi’s storytelling brings to life the unique experiences of Palestinians, powerfully highlighting their humanity, personhood and agency, as well as their colonial dispossession. … Her First Palestinian offers a richer understanding of the world through Palestinian eyes and inspires a greater appreciation of the diverse people who now reside in Canada.” — Montreal Serai

“[Teebi’s] prose, wit and humour guide the reader on a journey through nine unusual takes on life within the Palestinian diaspora, as well as providing glimpses into the family lives and rich culture of its members.” — Oakville News

“Saeed Teebi brilliantly and humorously examines what it means to be a diasporic subject in his debut short story collection, Her First Palestinian … The collection is a refreshing contribution to the corpus of Palestinian diasporic literature, offering stories not centred around the grief of displacement and generational loss but ones that cunningly and wittingly interrogate migrant life in Canada.” — Event Magazine

“Teebi’s book is an absolute page-turner that I finished in a single sitting. His beautifully layered prose grapples with a number of engrossing characters who navigate life as Palestinian immigrants in Canada, taking the reader on a journey through their compelling, nuanced, and surprising experiences.” — Globe and Mail

“Her First Palestinian stands as a complex, intricately crafted piece of fiction — explorative, confident and struck by the harsh realities of immigrant life … Teebi beautifully blends the line between the desire to start a new life elsewhere and finding comfort in belonging to a place where resistance and hope will always persevere.” — CanCulture