Written by Arab AuthorsLike this list

17 items

• One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

  El Akkad, Omar, 1982-

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  From award-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad comes a powerful reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its fundamental values.

• From Here

  a Memoir

  Mufleh, Luma

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  In her coming-of-age memoir, refugee advocate Luma Mufleh writes of her tumultuous journey to reconcile her identity as a gay Muslim woman and a proud Arab-turned-American refugee.

• The Thirty Names of Night

  a Novel

  Joukhadar, Zeyn

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  A remarkably moving and lyrical novel following three generations of Syrian Americans who are linked by a mysterious species of bird and the truths they carry close to their hearts.

• A Woman Is No Man

  a Novel

  Rum, Etaf

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  This book tells the story of three generations of Palestinian-American women struggling to express their individual desires within the confines of their Arab culture in the wake of shocking intimate violence in their community.

• The Map of Salt and Stars

  a Novel

  Joukhadar, Jennifer Zeynab

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  The story of two girls living eight hundred years apart—a modern-day Syrian refugee seeking safety and a medieval adventurer apprenticed to a legendary mapmaker—places today’s headlines in the sweep of history, where the pain of exile and the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Conditional Citizens

  on Belonging in America

  Lalami, Laila, 1968-

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  What does it mean to be American? In this starkly illuminating and impassioned book, Pulitzer Prize­­–finalist Laila Lalami recounts her unlikely journey from Moroccan immigrant to U.S. citizen, using it as a starting point for her exploration of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Against the Loveless World

  a Novel

  Abulhawa, Susan

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  Nahr, a young Palestinian woman, fights for a better life for her family as she travels as a refugee throughout the Middle East.

• This Is What America Looks Like

  My Journey From Refugee to Congresswoman

  Omar, Ilhan, 1981-

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  An intimate and rousing memoir by progressive trailblazer Ilhan Omar—the first African refugee, the first Somali-American, and one of the first Muslim women, elected to Congress.

• The Stardust Thief

  Abdullah, Chelsea,

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  Inspired by stories from One Thousand and One Nights, this book weaves together the gripping tale of a legendary smuggler, a cowardly prince, and a dangerous quest across the desert to find a legendary, magical lamp.

• You Exist Too Much

  a Novel

  Arafat, Zaina

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  A “provocative and seductive debut” of desire and doubleness that follows the life of a young Palestinian American woman caught between cultural, religious, and sexual identities as she endeavors to lead an authentic life.

• What Strange Paradise

  El Akkad, Omar, 1982-

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  A beautifully written, unrelentingly dramatic, and profoundly moving novel that looks at the global refugee crisis through the eyes of a child.

• Salt Houses

  Alyan, Hala, 1986-

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  Lyrical and heartbreaking, Salt Houses follows three generations of a Palestinian family and asks us to confront that most devastating of all truths: you can’t go home again.

• Evil Eye

  a Novel

  Rum, Etaf

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  A striking exploration of the expectations of a Palestinian-American woman, the meaning of a fulfilling life, and the ways our unresolved pasts affect our presents.

• Mother of Strangers

  Amiry, Suad,

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  Set in Jaffa in between 1947 and 1951, this “fable-like historical novel of young love ... darkly humorous and touching” is based on a true story during the beginning of the destruction of Palestine and displacement of its people.

• No Land to Light on

  a Novel

  Zgheib, Yara

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  A “masterful story of tragedy and redemption” “written in soul-searing prose” about a young Syrian couple in the throes of new love on the cusp of their bright future when a travel ban rips them apart on the eve of their son’s premature birth.

• A Calamity of Noble Houses

  Ghenim, Amira,

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  A finalist for the 2021 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, a compelling saga of two families that illuminates the lives of women in modern Tunisia

• Bitter Orange Tree

  a Novel

  Alharthi, Jokha

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  An extraordinary novel from a Man Booker International Prize-winning author that follows one young Omani woman as she builds a life for herself in Britain and reflects on the relationships that have made her from a “remarkable” writer who has…Read moreRead more of this annotation