The Sky Is Concave
by Majeda Awawdeh

A memoir of strength, the power of education and the universal language of mathematics.

A$36.99

(Paperback)

Ships on 29/09/2026

Overview

Born near Nazareth as a Palestinian citizen of Israel, Majeda Awawdeh learns early the limits imposed on her body, her voice and her dreams.

After marrying at just seventeen to escape an increasingly stifling home life and continue her education, Majeda finds herself shouldering the double burden of occupation and patriarchy in another kind of prison. Armed only with singular determination, love for her three young children and passion for learning, she begins to redraw the boundaries of her reality.

In The Sky Is Concave, Majeda recounts her journey through a childhood shaped by civil discrimination and rising religious conservatism to hard-won intellectual, financial and personal freedom as a scholar and award-winning educational entrepreneur in Australia.

Written with fierce, poetic honesty, The Sky Is Concave is a testament to courage and reinvention. It is an unforgettable story of daring to question the limits of your world and reshaping your own sky.

Details

Clare Wright

‘Rarely has a memoir held my attention with such magnetic force. By turns heartbreaking and fist-pumping, this rough diamond of a book shimmers with pulsating, page-turning energy. I was fully immersed in Dr Majeda’s double-bound world: the oppression and discrimination of being a Palestinian living in post-Nakba Israel, and the violence of being a wife trapped in an abusive marriage. Would she – could she – find her way out? And at what cost, to her colonised community and her subjugated self? The Sky Is Concave is at once a woman’s tale as old as time and a story of absolute political currency and specificity, written by a fresh and fearless new voice. Simply breathtaking.’

Tony Birch

‘The Sky Is Concave is a story of ultimate courage. Like so many Palestinians, Majeda Awawdeh has endured a life of deprivation and violence. Her story is also one of remarkable success. Majeda’s personal story is inspiration for all of us who seek justice for the Palestinian people. The Sky Is Concave, written with eloquence and dignity, is also an act of inspiration for all women demanding the basic human right to determine the life of freedom they wish to live.’

Jess Hill

‘A powerful, forensic memoir about resisting erasure. Dr Majeda’s story unfolds in stunning, unsparing detail as she outwits and ultimately overcomes the narrowing, violent constraints of patriarchal religion, family, marriage and state power. I found myself cheering out loud as time and again she outmanoeuvred those who sought to dominate her. Ultimately, this really is a testament to the extraordinary psychic power that’s required to protect your mind – and your love – under relentless pressure. And it is a triumph: brave, incandescent and certain to resonate with anyone, especially women, who sees their own survival and defiance reflected in its pages.’

Amani Haydar

‘This book defies both taboo and censorship, providing an intimate insight into the ways in which the lives of Palestinian women and girls are defined by layered uprisings: uprisings against fear, uprisings against patriarchy and uprisings against occupation. With the mind of a mathematician, Majeda unpicks the equations that direct the lives of women and girls under siege and maps the counterforces they employ to shape their own futures.’

Majeda Awawdeh

Dr Majeda Awawdeh is an academic, entrepreneur and advocate for women’s education based in Sydney, Australia. Born in the 1948 region, one of two million Palestinians with Israeli citizenship living under occupation, her early life was shaped by patriarchy, civil discrimination, the rise of Islamic conservatism and the complex realities of being a Palestinian citizen of Israel. Majeda holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, a master’s in mathematics education, and a PhD in mathematics education and Cognitive Load Theory. She is also a Telstra Business Women’s Award-winner.