UWA Publishing (UWAP) has acquired ANZ rights to The Palace of Angels by Mohammed Massoud Morsi through a deal with Anjali Singh Agency.
The book was first published in Australia by Wild Dingo Press in 2019 but has since been out of print. UWAP plans to publish the new edition of The Palace of Angels in April 2026 alongside Morsi’s new novel The Hair of the Pigeon which won UWAP’s Dorothy Hewett Award.
Told in 3 novellas, The Palace of Angels is a cross-border romance of ineffable charm – served equally with the remorseless realism of war and the bare-skinned surrender of two young warriors who break the rules. He, a Palestinian and she, an Israeli soldier – confront the tyrannies of power – political, religious, and personal. The Palace of Angels was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction and the Voss Literary Award in 2020. The book has received praise from the likes of Pulitzer prizewinner Geraldine Brooks and South African-Australian activist and author Sisonke Msimang.
On the acquisition, Morsi remarks: “I am thrilled UWAP is publishing The Palace of Angels. This triptych, based on true stories from Gaza and Jerusalem, is more relevant than ever. I'm excited to work with the UWAP team who has the courage to place this book alongside voices who share tales from worlds disvalued in the gentrified narrative of mainstream western literature and media. The Palace of Angels is, more than anything, three tales about love that appeal to those who seek the stories behind the 24 hour news-cycle.”
Kate Pickard, publisher of UWAP, says “We are delighted to be bringing Morsi’s The Palace of Angels back into print. Morsi is a talented writer and storyteller and we believe that his novels are what is needed in Australian publishing today.”
Mohammed Massoud Morsi is an Egyptian-Danish-Australian photographer, journalist and writer. His work has been published in all three of his traditional languages. Morsi discovered journalism made people yesterday’s news and turned to writing novels instead. He has a talent for reaching to the heart of existence in a complex world and looks to important questions, finding that which is quintessentially human within much broader struggles. His work is enriched by his photographer’s eye for detail and a passion for speaking out for those suppressed, challenging and breaking common narratives all at once.
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