Dinarzad's Children: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Fiction

CONTRIBUTORS

CONTRIBUTORS NABEEL ABRAHAM is a second-generation Arab American. He teaches anthropology at Henry Ford Community College (Dearborn, Michigan), where he also directs the Henry Ford II Honors Program. He is coeditor (with Andrew Shryock) of Arab Detroit: From Margin to Mainstream (Wayne State University Press, 2000). DIANA ABU-JABER’S latest novel, Origin, was named one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Washington Post and won the 2008 Florida Book Award bronze medal. Her memoir, The Language of Baklava, won the Northwest Booksellers’ Award. Her novel Crescent won the PEN Center Award for literary fiction and the American Book Award. It was also named a Notable Book of the Year by the Christian Science Monitor. Her first novel, Arabian Jazz, won the Oregon Book Award. She teaches at Oregon’s Portland State University and divides her time between Portland and Miami. RABIH ALAMEDDINE is a painter and author. He was born in Jordan, grew up in Kuwait and Lebanon, and now divides his time between San Francisco and Beirut. His first novel, Koolaids: The Art of War (1998), was nominated by the Lambda Literary Foundation for the best Gay Men’s Fiction Award in 1999. His story collection, The Perv (1999), was published by Picador, and his novel I, the Divine: A Novel in First Chapters (2001) was published by Norton. Alameddine received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002. His latest novel, The Hakawati (2008), published by Knopf, was an instant national bestseller . It will be published in thirteen countries. JOSEPH GEHA is the author of Through and Through: Toledo Stories (Graywolf, 1990). His short stories, poems, essays, and plays have appeared in various periodicals and anthologies, including Epoch, the Northwest Review, the Quarterly, the New York Times, the Iowa Review, 393 1KALDAS_pages:1KALDAS pages i-72.qxd 8/3/09 2:36 PM Page 393 Growing Up Ethnic in America, The Homeground Anthology, and American Mosaic. He has received a Pushcart Prize and a National Endowment for the Arts Award; his work has been included in the Arab-American Collection of the Smithsonian Institution. He is a professor emeritus at Iowa State University. YUSSEF EL GUINDI is primarily a playwright. His most recent productions include Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes (Golden Thread Productions) and Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat (Silk Road Theatre Project). His plays Back of the Throat, Such a Beautiful Voice is Sayeda’s, and Karima’s City have been published by Dramatists Play Service. The latter one-acts have also been included in The Best American Short Plays: 2004–2005, to be published by Applause Books in 2008. His play Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith is to be included in Salaam/Peace: An Anthology of Middle-Eastern American Playwrights, to be published by TCG in 2009. His most recent short story, “Habibi,” was published by the Seattle Review. “Ohio” was originally published by Mizna. HEDY HABRA, born in Egypt, is of Lebanese origin. She received her M.F.A. and a Ph.D. in Spanish literature from Western Michigan University. Her poetry and fiction in French, Spanish, and English have appeared in many journals, including Parting Gifts, Sulphur River Review, Mizna, Letras Femeninas, the Rockhurst Review, Puerto del Sol, the New York Quarterly, Nimrod, and Poet Lore, as well as in anthologies such as Come Together: Imagine Peace, edited by Philip Metres, Ann Smith, and Larry Smith (Bottom Dog Press, 2008), and Inclined to Speak: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Poetry, edited by Hayan Charara (University of Arkansas Press, 2008). Her work is forthcoming in Poetic Voices without Borders, Volume 2, edited by Robert Giron (Gival Press, 2009). RAWI HAGE lives in Montreal. His debut novel, DeNiro’s Game (HarperCollins, 2008), was the winner of the IMPAC International Dublin Award in 2008. 394
CONTRIBUTORS 1KALDAS_pages:1KALDAS pages i-72.qxd 8/3/09 2:36 PM Page 394 LAILA HALABY was born in Lebanon to a Jordanian father and an American mother. Both her novels, West of the Jordan (recipient of a PEN Beyond Margins Award) and Once in a Promised Land (a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Authors selection), were published by Beacon Press. She also writes poetry and children’s fiction. She currently lives in Tucson, Arizona. RANDA JARRAR is the author of the novel A Map of Home (Other Press, 2008...