Deena 🇵🇸 دينا

@deenahelm.bsky.social

3607 Followers 230 Following

author • palestinian • she/her • rep: @alexbrownwrites.bsky.social

A graphic with the book cover of Our Cut of Salt as well as text that states: Goodreads Giveaway Enter for a chance to win a free copy! Terms apply. US only.
Schedule that shows three autograph sessions, as well as two panels on Saturday (Threads of Tension, Vibe Check: Terrifying) and one on Sunday (The Anatomy of Fear)
"A haunting story of loss, displacement, and the strength of perseverance across generations. Helm has written a powerful tale of past wrongs, unanswered justice, and the ghosts of vengeance and healing they might unleash." — P. Djèlí Clark Author of The Dead Cat Tail Assassins
A graphic that says "This Media" and lists graphics for The Only Good Indians, Japanese Gothic, The Haunting of Hill House (2018), Model Home, Palestine 36 (2025), The Reformatory
"A gutting, visceral exploration of the violence of colonialism, and how it transcends generations. Helm's debut cuts into your skin...leaves you forever changed. An unforgettable debut. You'll never be the same after reading this book." - Soraya Bouazzaoui Sunday Times bestselling author of Aicha
A dark background with text that says: Horror, Palestine, and the terror of reality Smaller URL at the bottom: deenahelm.substack.com
A graphic with the cover for Our Cut of Salt and text that says "Goodreads Giveaway" and "Ends May 31"
A photo of Our Cut of Salt with text: Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm (9/22/2026) There is something that causes inhabitants to disappear fro Nuhad's childhood home in Haifa, Palestine. After her death, her granddaughter is determined to visit the house and brings her mother with her. The house has gone from protector to something much darker, and three generations must converge to set thing right.
A picture of me with a bookshelf behind me, on which Our Cut of Salt is displayed
"Lyrical and terrifying, Helm's portrait of generational trauma will leave you aching in its wake. Our Cut of Salt is not just a powerful exploration of injustice and survival, but also a testament to the power of love." - Monika Kim, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Eyes are the Best Part
A photo of a young woman with one eye purple and a small drop of blood by her mouth. There is text overlaid that says, "I don't know what it is. I don't even know if it has a name. But its only wish is to consume."
An image of an advanced copy of Our Cut of Salt sitting on a table
Graphic with Barnes and Noble logo, cover of Our Cut of Salt, and text that says March 24-26, and 25% off pre-orders using code PREORDER25
A graphic with the cover of the book OUR CUT OF SALT by Deena Helm and text above that says "NOW AVAILABLE TO REQUEST ON NETGALLEY AND EDELWEISS"
The UK cover for Our Cut of Salt, which depicts the title on the top half on a beige background. The bottom half shows the bottom half of a woman's face, overlaid with windows and doors, and shaded in red as the top part of her face crumbles. On the side is Palestinian embroidery in the colors of black, green, and red.
A cover for the debut novel OUR CUT OF SALT by Deena Helm, showing a dark green wallpaper and a hand ripping it away, revealing a flowery yellow pattern underneath. Tagline in the corner says, "The house is waiting for them."
A graphic that says FINALIST at the top, with The Arab-American Educational Foundation's logo and a list of finalists, including Deena Helm.
Art by lunacwriting depicting three women of three different generations in front of a haunted house and a stormy sea, with a snippet of text from the book that says: None have remembered the horrors nor absorbed the blood from those murdered quite so well as the house in Haifa.
Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm Our Cut of Salt is a sinister, unflinching take on the haunted-house novel by Palestinian author Deena Helm. At the centre of the book is Nuhad's supposedly haunted childhood home in Haifa. When Nuhad, who has not returned to her home since the Nakba in 1948, passes away, her granddaughter, Marina, is determined to visit her grandmother's home after a lifetime of being kept in the dark about her culture and family history. But something sinister happens, and three generations of women converge on the family home; they must reckon with the price of the past.
A tweet from Nerdeen Kiswani that states: Teuta Hoxha, a 28-year-old Palestine Action activist, is on her 20th day of a hunger strike in a UK prison. She’s refusing food because prison authorities stripped her of basic rights—her library job, classes, even her mail. Her blood sugar is collapsing. She’s at risk of death.
A screenshot from Publisher’s Marketplace that states: Deena Helm's OUR CUT OF SALT, an upmarket horror in which three generations of Palestinian women converge in their ancestral haunted home and must learn what the price of the past truly is, exploring generational trauma, grief, and the horrors of the Israeli occupation, to Kristin Temple at Nightfire, in a significant deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in September 2026, by Alex Brown at Mad Woman Literary Agency (NA). Rights also to Nadia Saward at Orbit UK, by Anna Carmichael at Abner Stein, on behalf of Taryn Fagerness Agency and Mad Woman Literary. Translation: Taryn Fagerness
To simply imagine Palestine without settlers, to simply imagine a sky without drones—that, in the Zionist imagination, is genocidal. If you stick with the “want” of the charge, the notion that Palestinians want to kill all Jews, you find that Zionism is at war with our future. It is at war with our ability to articulate, even if only through poems and protest chants, a future in which Zionism does not reign. For in the past 100 years, Zionism has situated us in a condition of constant dispossession and premature death; our Nakba remains and renews. We are besieged in an inescapable, eternal present tense.
Screenshot that says: Yes only people with eSIMs can use the internet now in Gaza and beat the isolation. Donate: Nomad (ISRAEL) - Highly needed Discount code: NOMADCNG Airalo (DISCOVER) Truely (Israel) Discount code: TRUELYCNG Send a clear QR code screenshot to: Gazaesims@gmail.com
Article with text: Middle East crisis live UN warns 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in next 48 hours without aid - Israel - Gaza war live
A picture of the winter edition
The English version of the piece, titled MY ANGER. DM or comment for a full alt text version
A moodboard of several photos from Palestine with text that says: WITHIN THESE SEEDS A MULTIGENERATIONAL PALESTINIAN FAMILY SAGA BY: DEENA HELM REPRESENTED BY: ALEX BROWN @ MAD WOMAN LITERARY
A graphic of Deena with text that says, "AGENTED / AGENTED / AGENTED / Now represented by Alex Brown of Mad Woman Literary Agency"