The General Union of Palestinian Writers and Journalists (GUPWJ) was established under the PLO in the early 1970s. Like many other bodies within the PLO, the establishment of the GUPWJ followed years of organizing and activism in the 1950s and 1960s by Palestinian writers working in diaspora. Figures like Kamal Nasser and Ghassan Kanafani were among the many literary and political leaders involved with the union. The formation of the GUPWJ—along with many other Palestinian unions and organizations—demonstrates a legacy of organizing that allowed for the articulation of political vision and the creation of counterpublic space for Palestinians across the Arab world. At a regional level, the union formed in a context where theoretical debates on literary aesthetics stood at the core of political discourse in the region. Many of the most critical theoretical discussions of the period were printed on the pages of literary periodicals—often associated with Arab writers’ organizations—and mediated through regional literary conferences. Beyond the regionally integrated political and theoretical environment expressed through literary production and criticism in the Arab world, the GUPWJ also formed in a moment of internationalist organization. The Afro-Asian Writers’ Association hosted two conferences in Cairo and Beirut in the 1960s with Palestinian representation and featured Palestinian writers in its literary magazine which was printed in English, French and Arabic. Thus, the union was born out of and participated in a moment of international solidarity in the literary sphere. Despite the important organizational, political and theoretical role of Palestinian writers’ unions, the history of these organizations and the ultimate formation of the GUPWJ remain shadowy. This paper aims to trace the genealogy of the GUPWJ primarily in the 1960s. Using documentation of writers’ conferences—often published in literary periodicals associated with writers’ organizations—as well as the broader contents of these publications, this paper will attempt to shed light on the network of Palestinian writers in this period. This paper aims to build an organizational history of the GUPWJ as part of the broader historical understanding of Palestinian political organizing in this period. It will also explore this Palestinian literary space as a source of theoretical production.