Hello and happy new year.

I'll email next week with plans for the reading group, but I wanted to pre-empt things to remind you that we'll be reading echolalia echolalia by Jane Shi very soon (starting January 12).

All this is to say... if you haven't ordered the book, you should place an order as soon as you can.

Orders placed through the Workshops4Gaza partner Open Books: A Poetry Emporium raise money for The Sameer Project via book proceeds.

Support Palestinians (However You Can)

If you can't buy from Open Books (eg not in the US), or if you can't buy the book, there are other ways to support Palestinians.

First, a note: please don't feel like you have to do all the things; if all you can do is focus on one thing, that would make a huge difference for Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has recently announced that they're shutting access to Gaza for dozens of aid organizations, but the need for aid hasn't abated at all, so we must redouble our efforts to support the organizations that still have access and are bringing food and other necessities to Palestinians.

• Crips for eSims for Gaza
• The Sameer Project
  • Medical Campaign
  • Refaat Al Areer Camp
  • Central and South tents campaign
  • North and Central Gaza
• Share the fundraisers and/or share the reading group

Crips for eSims for Gaza

Jane Shi co-founded the Crips for eSims for Gaza program with Alice Wong (rest in peace) and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. Crips for eSims for Gaza has kept Palestinians connected to the internet, sharing their experiences during this ongoing genocide, through blackouts and communication jams and other efforts to silence and annihilate Palestine.

If you have the means, please consider donating some money to the Crips for eSims for Gaza Chuffed campaign.

The Sameer Project

You can also donate directly to The Sameer Project's campaigns (instead of, or in addition to, proceeds from W4G book sales). If you're not familiar with The Sameer Project, it's a donations-based aid initiative led by Palestinians in diaspora and in Gaza, working to get shelter materials (such as tents) as well as other aid (medical equipment, medicine, food, etc...) to Palestinians in Gaza. You can read their updates on twitter or on instagram.

If you have extra funds, please consider donating to The Sameer Project directly through one of their fundraising campaigns:

• Medical Campaign: Supplying medication, getting doctors to patients, getting the means to treat and care for wounds, physiotherapy, psychotherapy, etc...
• Refaat Al Areer Camp: This camp provides shelter and specialized support to displaced families that have urgent and critical medical needs.
• Central and South tents campaign: The central and south Gaza camp fundraiser raises funds to get food and other basic needs, such as tents and other goods, to Palestinians in central and south Gaza.
• North and Central Gaza: The central and north Gaza camp fundraiser is working to get food and other goods into the northern part of Gaza where Israel has cut off most utilities and basic human needs.

Share a fundraiser

If you're not in a position to pitch money in to a fundraiser, consider sharing it with some friends. If you share it with a handful of friends and just one of them donates (or shares the fundraiser with a few of their friends), that could make a world of difference for someone.

Share this reading group

If more people buy books from Open Books and raise money for Palestinians, that would be great. If you're interested in joining, we'd be happy to have you.

Like I said at the beginning of the email, next week I'll send a reminder about how the reading group works (like when/how we meet). For now, just be sure to order the book.

Stay safe; talk to you soon.