Dunya al-Amal Ismail (Arabic: دنيا الأمل إسماعيل; also transliterated as Dunyā, Donia, and Dunia; born 1971 in Gaza) is a Palestinian poet, journalist, researcher, and feminist.
Early life and education
Al-Amal Ismail was born in the Gaza Strip. Her family relocated to Egypt in 1981, where she attended Al-Arish Girls' School. She began her political activism by organizing a photo exhibition at her school at the inception of the First Intifada in 1987. Her father, who was politically involved, encouraged her activism.
She holds a degree in journalism and communication from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a degree in Arabic from Cairo University, and a master's degree in political science from Al-Azhar University – Gaza.
Career
Al-Amal Ismail began her journalism career in Egypt, working for Al-Haqiqa newspaper, where she became the first female editor-in-chief. She later worked for Al-Ghaida magazine and was a cultural writer for the newspapers Al-Hayat and Al-Ayyam, publishing interviews with authors and analysis of published works.
She has lived in the Gaza Strip since 1994. After her return, she published the book I Saw in Gaza, which was later censored by the Palestinian Authority in 1999. Since 2000, she has written extensively on women's issues and feminism, and has spoken on these topics at various events. She has encouraged Palestinian solidarity with Kurdish women. She has also published political analysis through the Center for Arab Unity Studies.
She has worked and written for the Institute for Palestine Studies, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Press House, and the United Nations Population Fund. She is the director of the Gaza-based Creative Women's Association, which aims to support female creatives and cultural events.
Writing
Al-Amal Ismail has published three poetry collections: Each Separately (1996), The Ringing of Isolation (1999), and Not Him (2010). Her poem "A Moment of Mourning" was published in the 2001 anthology The Poetry of Arab Women: A Contemporary Anthology. In 2014, she was invited to read at the Poetic Interludes of Palestine, hosted by the Franco-Palestinian Cultural Institute in Paris. She is also the author of a short story anthology about the 2008–2009 Gaza War, and her fiction has been translated into English for Anthology of the Palestinian Story, published in Britain.
Awards and honours
- 2016 – Won the French Mediterranean Women's Forum Award for her story "My Mother and the Olive Tree." She was unable to attend the award ceremony in person after being turned away from the Rafah crossing from the Gaza Strip into Egypt.
- 2023 – Shared second place in the National Library of Palestine's Research and Studies Award for her research project "Theater in Palestine: Hope and Challenges."
- 2024 – Received the international and jury prize from the Spoltore Awards at its Festival scrittura d'amore, alongside fellow Gazan poet Elham Hamedi.
Personal life
Al-Amal Ismail was married to Bassam Al-Aqraa, an employee of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. Al-Aqraa died of a heart attack in Jabalia in 2018 while Al-Amal Ismail was in Cairo; authorities refused to allow her to return to Gaza in time to see him. She has four children. In September 2024, she published a piece in The New Arab about her experiences living in the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war.
