Mahmoud Khalil to Discuss No Land to Stand On in Philadelphia
- Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil is set to celebrate the September 25th release of his book, No Land to Stand On: Notes From Detention, during a live conversation in...
- The author event will take place at The Friends Center located at 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA 19102, starting at 7 p.m.
- Mahmoud Khalil is a Palestinian activist, writer, and graduate of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University who previously worked in development and international affairs...
Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil is set to celebrate the September 25th release of his book, No Land to Stand On: Notes From Detention, during a live conversation in Philadelphia co-sponsored by the Middle East Research and Information Project, CAIR-Philadelphia, and Mavey Books. According to the event organizers, the book serves as a revelatory testament of protest, courage, and imprisonment within America’s deportation regime following his arrest by the Trump administration in March 2025.
Book Release and Philadelphia Event Details
The author event will take place at The Friends Center located at 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA 19102, starting at 7 p.m. on September 25, according to Mavey Books. Doors are scheduled to open at 6 p.m. and close strictly at 50 minutes past the hour, with no late entry permitted for ticket holders. Tickets for the program require purchase in advance and include a pre-signed copy of the book. In addition to the main discussion featuring Khalil, the program includes poetry readings by Leena Jawdat, author of 70,000: Poems. A separate pre-event reception is scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. featuring add-on ticketing, a personal meet and greet with Khalil, and Palestinian cuisine. Mavey Books announced that 10% of all online sales from tickets and books will be donated to ANERA to support orphans and families in Palestine.
Arrest and Imprisonment in ICE Detention
Mahmoud Khalil is a Palestinian activist, writer, and graduate of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University who previously worked in development and international affairs with the United Nations, the British government, and several non-profit organizations in the Middle East, as noted by event organizers. The Trump administration arrested Khalil in March 2025, transporting him across the country to a Louisiana detention camp under threat of deportation. It was reported that his arrest followed his campus activism as a leading voice against the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.
Khalil explained the origins of his written work while facing removal proceedings. I began this book while in detention and I finished it fighting a deportation order that may take me from my family,
Khalil stated in publisher materials. This is what it has cost me to tell this story. I wrote it anyway because I believe testimony is one of the few things that can make injustice visible before it becomes inevitable.
Critical Reception and Dissident Literature
Pankaj Mishra called the work already a classic of dissident literature,
while Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe described it as compelling and deeply human.
Additional commentary from Kamila Shamsie labeled it an extraordinary book that everyone should read,
and Mona Chalabi stated that the text will light a fire under you.
Khalil’s book draws heavily on prison diaries and traces his family’s displacement from Palestine to a Syrian refugee camp, his subsequent flight from Assad’s regime to Lebanon, and his arrival in the United States.
My hope is that anyone who reads this understands that Palestine is not the exception, it is the warning,
Khalil stated. The rights we are losing were never only ours to lose.