Fire in Every Direction: A Memoir
Fire in Every Direction: A Memoir
Fire in Every Direction: A Memoir
Description
Description
LitHub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025 "I am forever changed after reading this book." --Javier Zamora, author of Solito From the renowned Palestinian scholar, a memoir of political and queer awakening, of impossible love amidst generations of displacement, and what it means to return home. Both a love story and a coming-of-age tale that spans countries and continents, Fire in Every Direction balances humor and loss, nostalgia and hope, as it takes us from the Middle East to London, and from 1948 to the present. Tareq Baconi crafts a deeply intimate, unforgettable portrait of how a political consciousness--desire and resistance--is passed down through generations. In 1948, Tareq's grandmother, Eva, would flee Haifa as Zionist militias seized the city. In the late 1970s, she would flee Beirut with her daughter, Rima, as the country was in the throes of a civil war. In Amman, the family would eventually obtain the comfort of middle class life--still, a young Tareq would feel trapped: by cultures of silence, by a sense of not belonging, by his own growing awareness that he is in love with his childhood best friend, Ramzi. After relocating to London for college, Tareq hopes to put aside his past, and begins to work through an understanding of self as a queer man. Yet as the Iraq War radicalizes young people around the world towards anti-war protest, history comes back to him: hushed whispers overheard, stories of his mother's years as an activist in Beirut and her return to Palestine during a moment of calm. Living between the region and London, Tareq fits in neither and feels alienated from both. Queerness is policed back in Amman, just as his Palestinian-ness is abroad. These gradual estrangements escalate, forcing him to grapple with what it means to live in liminal spaces, and rethink the meaning of home. Eventually, tracing the journey of his family before him, Tareq returns to Palestine. This is an account of finding oneself through histories of dispossession and reclaiming what has been silenced.
About the Author
About the Author
Tareq Baconi is a Palestinian writer, scholar, and activist. He is the grandson of refugees from Jerusalem and Haifa and grew up between Amman and Beirut. His work has appeared in, among others, The New York Times and The Baffler, and he contributes essays to The New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books. He has also written for film; his award-winning BFI short One Like Him, a queer love story set in Jordan, screened in over thirty festivals. He is the author of What Now, Hamas Contained: A History of Palestinian Resistance, which was shortlisted for the Palestine Book Award, and Fire in Every Direction.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
"It is difficult to read Tareq Baconi's intimate, mesmerizing meditation on dispossession and not think about how much safer it would have been to not write a book like this, to leave a dangerous past undisturbed. In stunning detail--both physical and emotional--Baconi traces a story of personal and communal alienation, longing, and liberation... That Baconi has managed to do all this in a memoir that still feels so firmly rooted in love is a marvel."
--Omar El Akkad, New York Times bestselling author of One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This "Destined to become a classical Palestinian Anglophone literary text of our age."
--George Abraham, Autostraddle "Fire in Every Direction is a beautiful account of one man's confrontation with the histories, silences, and desires--both communal and private--that have made him who he is."
--Isabella Hammad, author of Enter Ghost and Recognizing the Stranger "Intimate and vulnerable, creating an unsparing portrait...for all the tragedies, however, it is ultimately a book filled with love, from and for his own family, for the region, Palestine and queer culture."
--The Guardian "I love this book. It is beautifully woven and registers acutely at the intimate and global levels of life."
--Judith Butler, bestselling author of Who's Afraid of Gender "Acclaimed scholar and analyst Baconi chronicles his coming of age as a young gay man and defiant Palestinian. A brilliant and wrenching tale of personal and political awakening."
--Booklist (starred review) "Tareq Baconi offers us a love letter, a blueprint on how to craft a life that questions the present, dreaming a better future in the process... Baconi has shown me that revolutions begin in the self; I am forever changed after reading this book."
--Javier Zamora, author of Solito "Lyrical and moving, Baconi's excellent memoir describes a people in real danger of being forgotten as well as a land where hope straddles walls."
--Library Journal "Luminous, moving, and achingly beautiful, every page of this book is guided by Tareq Baconi's fierce intelligence and a tenderness that this world does not deserve. You do not read this book to repair your heart, you read this book to understand the fissures."
--Maaza Mengiste, author of The Shadow King "In this poignant autobiography, queer Palestinian writer and activist Baconi tenderly explores identity, nationality, and family history."
--The Millions "Outstanding...I found the blend between the personal and political to be very cleverly achieved. A brilliant book."
--Raja Shehadeh, author of We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I "A powerful memoir of queer and Palestinian reckoning. Tareq Baconi creates 'a gaze of our own' by bringing his open heart to a tough confrontation with histories both intimate and diasporic. An important contribution to our many literatures."
--Sarah Schulman, author of The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity "With lyrical prose and shrewd narrative instincts, Baconi transmutes hardship into comfort. Readers will find it difficult not to be moved."
--Publishers Weekly "With passion, sincerity, and wit, Baconi writes about the world he grew up in, about a time and place long gone, revivified in these beautiful pages. Spending time with the real people in Fire in Every Direction is a delight. Read this book!"
--Rabih Alameddine, author of Comforting Myths and An Unnecessary Woman "Fire in Every Direction is primarily a love story: about how one learns to overcome loss--of a homeland, of a beloved--due to the interventions of authorities, be they parents or conquerors. It is a deeply inspiring and absorbing read, especially in these times."
--Mark Gevisser, author of The Pink Line
--Omar El Akkad, New York Times bestselling author of One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This "Destined to become a classical Palestinian Anglophone literary text of our age."
--George Abraham, Autostraddle "Fire in Every Direction is a beautiful account of one man's confrontation with the histories, silences, and desires--both communal and private--that have made him who he is."
--Isabella Hammad, author of Enter Ghost and Recognizing the Stranger "Intimate and vulnerable, creating an unsparing portrait...for all the tragedies, however, it is ultimately a book filled with love, from and for his own family, for the region, Palestine and queer culture."
--The Guardian "I love this book. It is beautifully woven and registers acutely at the intimate and global levels of life."
--Judith Butler, bestselling author of Who's Afraid of Gender "Acclaimed scholar and analyst Baconi chronicles his coming of age as a young gay man and defiant Palestinian. A brilliant and wrenching tale of personal and political awakening."
--Booklist (starred review) "Tareq Baconi offers us a love letter, a blueprint on how to craft a life that questions the present, dreaming a better future in the process... Baconi has shown me that revolutions begin in the self; I am forever changed after reading this book."
--Javier Zamora, author of Solito "Lyrical and moving, Baconi's excellent memoir describes a people in real danger of being forgotten as well as a land where hope straddles walls."
--Library Journal "Luminous, moving, and achingly beautiful, every page of this book is guided by Tareq Baconi's fierce intelligence and a tenderness that this world does not deserve. You do not read this book to repair your heart, you read this book to understand the fissures."
--Maaza Mengiste, author of The Shadow King "In this poignant autobiography, queer Palestinian writer and activist Baconi tenderly explores identity, nationality, and family history."
--The Millions "Outstanding...I found the blend between the personal and political to be very cleverly achieved. A brilliant book."
--Raja Shehadeh, author of We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I "A powerful memoir of queer and Palestinian reckoning. Tareq Baconi creates 'a gaze of our own' by bringing his open heart to a tough confrontation with histories both intimate and diasporic. An important contribution to our many literatures."
--Sarah Schulman, author of The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity "With lyrical prose and shrewd narrative instincts, Baconi transmutes hardship into comfort. Readers will find it difficult not to be moved."
--Publishers Weekly "With passion, sincerity, and wit, Baconi writes about the world he grew up in, about a time and place long gone, revivified in these beautiful pages. Spending time with the real people in Fire in Every Direction is a delight. Read this book!"
--Rabih Alameddine, author of Comforting Myths and An Unnecessary Woman "Fire in Every Direction is primarily a love story: about how one learns to overcome loss--of a homeland, of a beloved--due to the interventions of authorities, be they parents or conquerors. It is a deeply inspiring and absorbing read, especially in these times."
--Mark Gevisser, author of The Pink Line
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Washington Square Press
Pub date:
2026-12-01
Length:
256 pages
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