{"product_id":"huna-a-memoir-of-revolution-prison-and-becoming-by-abdelrahman-elgendy","title":"Huna: A Memoir of Revolution, Prison, and Becoming by Abdelrahman ElGendy (Hardcover) (PREORDER)","description":"\u003cp\u003eNonfiction - Biography \u0026amp; Autobiography - Memoir - History - Middle East - Egypt\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRELEASE DATE: 9\/1\/2026 (WILL SHIP DIRECTLY FROM OUR SUPPLIER'S WAREHOUSE)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA gripping, deeply moving memoir of survival, education, and resistance by a student protestor–turned–political prisoner in post-revolution Egypt.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“I will never be the same after reading Huna.” —Javier Zamora\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003e“A beautifully written portrait of a radical political awakening.” —Hanif Abdurraqib\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003e“The work of a truly liberated writer.” —Fady Joudah\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 2013, seventeen-year-old Abdelrahman ElGendy was a budding student activist in Cairo. Two years after the January 25 revolution, hope for a free Egypt had dissipated; when that summer’s military coup unleashed unprecedented massacres of protesters, Abdelrahman didn’t hesitate—he joined the street movement. His father, fearing for his son’s safety, accompanied him to a mass demonstration. But minutes after they arrived, they were swept up in a brutal police crackdown, and their lives were shattered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCrushed inside a holding cell, Abdelrahman first heard the words of the Arab world’s most enduring protest song, “Sawfa Nabqa Huna”—We Will Remain Here. He wondered: If no one wanted to remain behind bars, what was the “here” they chose to inhabit?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAbdelrahman would spend the next six years as a political prisoner chasing this Huna, shuffled, alongside his father, from jail cell, to pre-trial detention center, to The Scorpion, Egypt’s most infamous prison complex. As his body broke under the grind of incarceration with no end in sight, he turned to the only refuge left to him: the page. He earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering while imprisoned, read and wrote voraciously, and, through writing, bore witness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn his remarkable debut, Abdelrahman offers not a promise of hope, but a provocation. When the very things that can save you—tenderness, family, friendship, language—are used against you, how can you find the courage to love? Huna is a reckoning with what it takes—and what it costs—to remain when erased, and of what endures, perhaps more faithfully, beyond hope.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAUTHOR BIO: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbdelrahman ElGendy\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is an author and translator from Cairo. A winner of the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award, he holds an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from the University of Pittsburgh, and his work appears in publications including \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eForeign Policy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Nation\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eGuernica\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. His poetry and prose translations from Arabic appear in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003ePloughshares\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003ePoetry Northwest\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eLiterary Hub\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eWords Without Borders\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and elsewhere. ElGendy's work has received awards or fellowships from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the Heinz Foundation, the de Groot Foundation, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and the Arab American National Museum. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eHuna\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is his debut memoir.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"You don't read Huna, you live it, savor it, bite, suck up each word--the taste in your mouth? An untranslatable term Abdelrahman ElGendy teaches us, qahr: an injustice, rage, helplessness, but also a divine retribution. In Abdelrahman ElGendy's hands, the brutal, idiotic DNA of authoritarianism has no chance, its grip is futile. ElGendy has purposely sweetened the nightmare, I hope readers learn the lesson. I will never be the same after reading Huna--a pivotal addition to world literature.\" \u003cb\u003e--Javier Zamora, New York Times bestselling author of Solito\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\" Huna is a beautifully written portrait of a radical political awakening--a portrait that does not prioritize the harms and brutalities of the state, even though they are endured. But a portrait that, instead, affords an immense patience and dignity to the land and its people. To the heart and its ferocity. To all of the things that turn a person towards rigorous and principled action.\" \u003cb\u003e--Hanif Abdurraqib, New York Times bestselling author of There's Always This Year\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"This riveting, extraordinary work communicates the literal experience of being a political prisoner within the emotional life of injustice. Abdelrahman ElGendy brings us closer to the physical suffering, the intellectual hunger, the deep friendships, the modes of survival, the petty brutalities of state players--not only of the regime of Egypt's General Sisi, but of its resonance today in the United States.\" \u003cb\u003e--Sarah Schulman, author of The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"In documenting the arbitrary brutality of Egypt's carceral system, ElGendy illuminates the plight of thousands of political prisoners suffering just out of sight. This memoir is a testament to the conscience they preserve in the darkest cells of the nation. It is a battle cry for their liberation.\" \u003cb\u003e--Noor Naga, author of If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"Abdelrahman ElGendy's memoir Huna offers a powerful map of interconnected practices of resistance to surveillance, state violence, and the repression of political speech. A vital entry in the long tradition of narratives of political imprisonment, Huna reminds us that freedom is first in the mind.\" \u003cb\u003e--Zeyn Joukhadar, author of The Thirty Names of Night and The Map of Salt and Stars\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hogarth","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50141566632129,"sku":"9798217153602","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0535\/7522\/1441\/files\/9798217153602.jpg?v=1776191766","url":"https:\/\/www.bookhavenbooks.com\/products\/huna-a-memoir-of-revolution-prison-and-becoming-by-abdelrahman-elgendy","provider":"Book Haven Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}