Gaza: The Age of the Olive Trees
Tuesday 27th January, 2026 at 6pm (UK)
Register now

From the rooftop
the world lay beneath me….
I watched and wondered if
I had slipped out of God’s memory.
— Extract from Bird by Haia Mohammed

What has it been like to live through the genocide in Gaza?
What has it been like to watch from a distance as your family are trapped there?

Haia Mohammed was only able to leave Gaza to study in the UK in August 2025, while Hala Hanina had arrived in the UK to do her PhD at the start of October 2023 and longed to be with her family in Gaza.

“Haia Mohammed's poems feel to me like the most important work being written in the world today. They are staggeringly impactful in their honesty, strength and beauty. The people of Gaza, as Haia says, are different; they write poems that defy death. These pieces are miracles of language and spirit, they are humanity at its best and most resilient.” Max Porter

About the webinar

Haia will talk of her experiences in Gaza and share some of her poetry and prose before reflecting on the role that poetry has played in Gaza during the genocide.

Hala will reflect on her work as a journalist reporting on Gaza — where over 260 colleagues have been killed — and on her research on women’s rights and empowerment in Gaza. They will also talk about the situation in Gaza now and how the genocide has not ended.

We are delighted that Xananine Calvillo from the Amos Climate Fellowship will also be joining us to ask Haia and Hala about women’s rights in Gaza and the environmental impact of the genocide.

Haia, Hala and  Xananine will be in conversation with Amos’ Chris Rose.

About our guests
Hala Hanina

Hala Hanina is a social and political activist, journalist and PhD researcher in politics and sociology. She left Gaza just days before the genocide began in October 2023. Hala has led a successful campaign against domestic violence with community and government participation, achieving significant progression in community culture and related laws. 

Her research focuses on women’s rights and empowerment in Gaza, and she continues to report on the situation there despite over 260 of her journalist colleagues having been killed during the genocide.

Haia Mohammed

Haia Mohammed is a 23-year-old poet and artist from Khan Younis in Gaza. Her debut poetry pamphlet, The Age of Olive Trees (Out-Spoken Press, 2025), was named by The Guardian as one of its Best Recent Poetry titles. She was awarded a full scholarship to study Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London, and arrived in the UK in September 2025 as one of the first group of scholars successfully evacuated from Gaza.

Her poetry explores memory, land and the intimate textures of survival, weaving personal witness with collective history. All proceeds from sales of The Age of Olive Trees go directly to Haia to support her and her family who remain in Gaza.

Xananine Calvillo

Xananine is an Indigenous woman from the Ngiwa people, who have inhabited the Tehuacán Valley for over two thousand years. She became involved in climate activism three years ago through Legado Gaia (LEGAIA) — a Mesoamerican youth collective for climate justice — and the Stop Financing Factory Farming Coalition.