Martha Sprackland

Bee Box by Martha Sprackland The runner-up in this year’s Moth Short Story Prize, chosen by judge Evie Wyld

If you are tall enough to see over the paywall, my story 'Bee Box' is up on the @irishtimes.com now, after coming second in @themothmagazine.bsky.social The Moth Short Story Prize.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

28.08.2025 15:40 — 👍 30    🔁 4    💬 1    📌 0

Barely an hour ago, Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif warned us all:

“If this madness doesn’t end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.”

Israel just killed him.

10.08.2025 21:09 — 👍 6407    🔁 4802    💬 71    📌 130

Martyrs of Gaza @GazaMartyrs This is my will and my final message. If my words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice. First, peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you. God knows that I have given all my effort and strength to be a support and a voice for my people since I opened my eyes to life in the alleys and streets of Jabalia refugee camp. My hope was that God would grant me life to return with my family and loved ones to our original town of Ashkelon (Al-Majdal), occupied land. But God's will was swifter, and His decree is binding. I lived pain in all its details, tasted grief and loss repeatedly, yet I never hesitated to convey the truth as it is—-without distortion or falsification— hoping God would bear witness against those who remained silent, those who accepted our killing, those who besieged our breaths, and whose hearts were not moved by the shattered bodies of our children and women, nor did they stop the massacre our people have faced for more than a year and a half.

I entrust you with Palestine, the jewel of the Muslim world and the pulse of every free heart in this world. I entrust you with its people, with its innocent children who were not granted the time to dream or live in safety and peace. Their pure bodies were crushed under thousands of tons of Israeli bombs and missiles, torn apart, their remains scattered on the walls. l urge you not to let chains silence you, nor borders restrain you. Be bridges toward liberating the land and the people until the sun of dignity and freedom rises over our stolen homeland. I entrust you with my family. I entrust you with the apple of my eye, my beloved daughter, Sham, whom fate did not allow me to see grow as I dreamed. I entrust you with my dear son, Salah, whom I wished to support and accompany until he grew strong, carrying my burden and continuing the mission.

I entrust you with my beloved mother, whose prayers were the reason I reached where I did. Her supplications were my fortress, and her light my path. I pray God to ease her heart and reward her abundantly on my behalf. I also entrust you with my lifelong companion, my beloved wife, Umm Salah Bayan, from whom war separated us for long days and months, but who remained faithful, steadfast like an olive tree trunk that never bends, patient and devout, carrying the trust in my absence with strength and faith. I urge you to gather around them and be their support after God Almighty. If I die, I die steadfast on my principles, bearing witness to God that I am satisfied with His decree, believing in meeting Him, and certain that what is with God is better and everlasting. O God, accept me among the martyrs, forgive my past and future sins, and make my blood a light that illuminates the path to freedom for my people and family.

Forgive me if I fell short, and pray for me mercy, for I have remained true to the covenant, never changing or betraying it. Do not forget Gaza... And do not forget me in your good prayers for forgiveness and acceptance. Anas Jamal Al-Sharif 06.04.2025 This is what Anas ordered to be published upon his martyrdom.

Anas Al Sharif had these words to publish if he was martyred which he was tonight as Israel starts the invasion of Gaza City

10.08.2025 22:29 — 👍 1385    🔁 1045    💬 19    📌 42

a young man holds a young boy and girl in front of rubble

a man holds a microphone with an al jazeera logo while wearing a vest with the word press on it

a young man in glasses wearing a protective vest with the word press on it leans against a car

a collage shows three young men smiling

The five brave Palestinian journalists whom Israel targeted and killed today (left-right):
-Anas al-Sharif (correspondent)
-Mohammed Qreiqeh (correspondent) -Ibrahim Zaher (camera operator)
-Muhammad Al-Khalidi (photojournalist)
-Mohammed Noufal (camera operator)
-Moamen Aliwa (camera operator)

11.08.2025 03:16 — 👍 772    🔁 497    💬 21    📌 15

You only kill journalists when you want to hide what you're doing.

11.08.2025 01:15 — 👍 804    🔁 278    💬 1    📌 0

Little baby Hala needs a better world

15.04.2025 19:47 — 👍 25    🔁 18    💬 1    📌 1

Again, if you're suspicious that Palestinian accounts are spam, ignore/mute/block/don't donate. By reporting, you are risking hindering real people undergoing an active genocide from surviving, escaping, keeping their families alive. You are doing evil work, as y/our governments starve/kill them.

12.04.2025 11:47 — 👍 205    🔁 92    💬 0    📌 6

Palestinian Scholarship

Please share in your networks. Goldsmiths, UoL are offering 5 scholarships in Undergrad & MA courses for Palestinian students. The scholarships include: tuition fee waiver, £19,550 allowance, return trip to & from the UK.
Eligibility details & further info at link👇🏽
www.gold.ac.uk/fees-funding...

12.04.2025 08:52 — 👍 379    🔁 495    💬 2    📌 10

Think of this child—she has endured unimaginable pain.
She lost her home, her toys, and her entire childhood. The least we can do is give her a chance at life, save her family, and bring back her smile.
She is counting on you

www.gofundme.com/f/npjax3-hel...

24.03.2025 10:21 — 👍 28    🔁 23    💬 1    📌 9

Screenshot of an email preview from Quora, reading: ‘¿Cómo se dice "cómo se dice" en inglés? Quieres saber cómo se dice "cómo se dice" en inglés? ¡Es una frase…’

Quorabouros

01.04.2025 07:29 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0

Painfully on the nose moment. In the train station shop getting my morning coffee. On the radio I'm hearing about benefits cuts, one of the newspapers headlines is about Trump's tariffs hitting us in the UK... and the Sun's headline is about how "dinghy refugees" are "taking us for fools".

01.04.2025 05:07 — 👍 25    🔁 2    💬 3    📌 0

Please support Farah and Mohanad, if you can.

31.03.2025 06:51 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I’m so sorry for everything you’re having to endure.

31.03.2025 06:50 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Eid mubark to you my friends and we are just 350£ away, donate if u can or repost help me rebuild our life
All your donations and reposts are appreciated

gofund.me/a625d5ba

30.03.2025 18:03 — 👍 82    🔁 94    💬 3    📌 9

Wow. Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum officially recognizes Palestine as a state. Here she welcomes Palestinian ambassador Nadya Rasheed.

Sheinbaum is Jewish, supports Palestinian self-determination, & unapologetically condemns Netanyahu's attacks on Gaza.

Historic & inspiring leadership. ❤️✊🏽

20.03.2025 16:20 — 👍 9668    🔁 2617    💬 111    📌 289

A big cathartic yell: I've sent my translation of St John of the Cross to the publisher, after two years of immersion in his strange bright darkness.

Going to climb back out for a gin and tonic.

05.03.2025 17:21 — 👍 19    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

A thriving natural world is the foundation of economic growth and vital for health and wellbeing. Language that pits these against each other is unhelpful and deeply concerning.

Nature is not a blocker to growth.

The UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves has claimed that 'The balance has gone too far in the direction of always protecting every bat and every newt.' But how can this statement be true when the UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world?🌍

30.01.2025 13:10 — 👍 300    🔁 150    💬 12    📌 10

Ceasefire does not bring suffering to an end. There is so much to do, so much to rebuild, so many to feed and shelter and comfort.

20.01.2025 10:09 — 👍 7    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0

Patricia Lockwood · That Shape Am I: Among the Mystics Doubt is the dimension of the religious experience that brings it into reality, gives it that voluptuousness which...

‘It was due to the Little Flower that
I quite seriously considered joining the Carmelites in my teens. Hence I do want to see a nun on the ground, and to read the firsthand accounts of God’s various worm-wives.’

@TriciaLockwood on the mystics: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

16.01.2025 18:45 — 👍 44    🔁 6    💬 0    📌 1

AI instead of UBI, wild, extremely dumb

13.01.2025 10:58 — 👍 6    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0