Selma Dabbagh, Palestinian author: "I'm used to being challenged, but it's terrifying."

On her first trip to Mexico, British-Palestinian author Selma Dabbagh was not spared from heckling from the audience during one of her talks on literature and the situation inGaza . Although she says she is "used to people challenging her," she also confesses that she finds these confrontations "terrifying."

"I've been working and speaking in these spaces for quite some time, and it's intimidating . I don't think I'm a very brave person, but I think it's quite difficult for someone to dare to sit in a space where they know a Palestinian will be speaking," the 55-year-old argues.

The most pointed questions from the audience, whether in Mexico or anywhere else in the world, revolve around whether the writer considers herself a terrorist because she's Palestinian, or whether the "genocide" in Gaza is more important to her than others, such as that of the Armenian people, which occurred between 1915 and 1923.

The author, known for her debut novel Out of it (2011), which tells the story of a Gazan family's escape from the United Kingdom to Palestine , considering the former territory to be more privileged, maintains that the biggest scare of her life came when she tried to return to her homeland.

"The last time I went to Palestine, as I was crossing the border, the guards who interrogated me basically told me when I told them what I was doing, and in particular my legal work, that if I ever did anything against Israeli soldiers, they would find me wherever I was ," he reveals.

Although she doesn't share the views of the vast majority of Israelis, the narrator confesses that it must be "quite difficult" for them to attend talks like hers and keep an "open mind," especially when "you've been through what is probably one of the most sophisticated propaganda mechanisms in the world."

" I know Israelis who have gone through radical changes after realizing that their entire upbringing, their childhood, the deaths of their friends who were fighting for certain things—much of it was based on lies: it's very hard psychologically," he explains.

Works such as the series Mo (2022), released on Netflix and created by the Palestinian-born American comedian Mohammed Amer, are some of the examples for Dabbagh of how fiction helps the public understand what is happening in Palestine , but also how exiles live outside of Palestine.

British-Palestinian writer Selma Dabbagh gave the lecture "Voices of Resistance" at the UAM's Casa de la Paz Cultural and Academic Center.

Selma is the author of the novel Out of It, which topped The Guardian's list of five best-selling novels in 2024… pic.twitter.com/mPbkpfH0ug

— UAM (@lauammx) September 1, 2025

"When I moved to London, I thought, ' I'm doing this to protect my children . They can grow up as Londoners and not be burdened with an exclusionary identity.' But when the other parents found out we were Palestinian, it became a problem, even for the school . You can't avoid being Palestinian; they don't want you around," he explains.

He also comments that this "growing interest" in society in reading Palestinian authors can become "uncomfortable," as he acknowledges that it is due to the media cycle "dependent on violence."

And, she adds, although "one wants to be read," she doesn't necessarily intend for it to be "about the bodies of the dead," which now number more than 64,300, the majority of whom are women and children.

However, he considers it "fantastic" to have new audiences who understand the difficulties that Palestinian cinema and literature continue to face, such as the much-criticized removal of Palestinian films from Netflix's catalog.

For this reason, he appreciates and applauds the "sites of resistance" that are emerging, for example, in Mexico and the United Kingdom, despite the British government's declaration of the Palestinian Action network as a terrorist organization.

" We must resist and seek allies in other causes that don't respond to corporate interests. We must form coalitions so we aren't so alone, because our problem isn't isolated; it's something much bigger," he concludes.