Tareq Al Sourani is a 17-year-old writer from Gaza. He’s visiting his mother and siblings in Montreal after fleeing Gaza.

He just penned a memoir called Gaza Held in Time: A Tapestry of Two Lives, based on his experience during the ongoing war. It’s co-written with Yara Nasser and weaves both of their stories together.

“I did not choose to be a writer; this is early in life. And I honestly don’t wish to be,” he said. “As a 17-year-old, I wish to be thinking about college applications, thinking about summer vacations. I did not choose to be, but unfortunately war and its circumstances and its responsibility made me and Yara write this book at this young age.”

Al Sourani says Gaza was his “world” and that before this, he had never left his birthplace.

“I chose to write recently to tell t

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