Book Launch – ‘Beneath the Hum of Drones: On Solidarity and the Courage of Gaza’s Students’ by Zahid Pranjol
Date/Time
Date(s) - 26 Sep 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Please join us on Saturday 26 September to hear from author and professor Zahid Pranjol at the launch of his book on the We Are Still Here project: ‘Beneath the Hum of Drones: On Solidarity and the Courage of Gaza’s Students’.
‘Beneath the Hum of Drones…’ tells the story of how students in Gaza continued to learn through war, displacement and siege, and how an extraordinary network of volunteers from the UK came together to support them, drawing on first-hand testimony from Gaza, stories from inside the atrocities and personal reflection.
The book follows students who continued to study, write, paint and organise while their universities and homes were being destroyed around them. Alongside their stories, it traces a grassroots movement that connected academics, teachers and communities across the UK with students in Gaza, providing teaching, financial support and opportunities for the students’ artwork and poetry to be seen and heard outside of the walls of Gaza and for their voices to be carried to the world. This book is about the author’s journey with a community of students in Gaza built together, across an impossible distance and in the middle of a genocide.
“This is not a book I set out to write. It began as a question asked over coffee by a scholarship student from Gaza who wanted to know what the two of us, in a university in the south of England, could actually do in the face of annihilation of the people of Palestine.” Professor Pranjol writes.
What followed was an extraordinary international effort. University academics, more than 70 volunteer English teachers, artists, healthcare professionals and hundreds of ordinary people came together, united by the belief that they could not stand by while Gaza’s students were denied their education. Together, they built a network of solidarity with members centred around the University of Sussex and communities across East Sussex, UK. Among those involved were English teachers, doctors, artists and university lecturers from across the UK who volunteered hundreds of hours to teach students in Gaza remotely.
Since early 2024, the initiative has grown into a wide-ranging programme of educational, creative and psychological support for students in Gaza. Its work includes English language teaching delivered by volunteer teachers, art therapy for children, specialist psycho-trauma therapy delivered remotely through Zoom and WhatsApp, and medical and psycho-trauma training for healthcare professionals working in Gaza. The wider initiative documented in the book has supported an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 students through educational programmes, financial assistance and wellbeing support (Book text taken from the Daraja Press website).
It should be a fascinating and moving event. We hope to see you there!
Copies of the book will be on sale on the night.