Zaina Arafat
Palestinian American writer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zaina Arafat is a Palestinian American writer and educator. She is the author of the novel You Exist Too Much, which won the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction.[1]
Zaina Arafat | |
|---|---|
| Occupation |
|
| Alma mater | University of Virginia Columbia University University of Iowa |
| Notable works | You Exist Too Much |
| Notable awards | Lambda Literary Award |
Arafat's essays and fiction have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Granta.[2][3][4]
Life and career
Arafat grew up between the United States and the Middle East, and is based in Brooklyn, New York.[5] She earned a B.A. from the University of Virginia, an M.A. from Columbia University, and an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa.[6]
Her writing has appeared in publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times, Granta, The Believer, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Atlantic, BuzzFeed, Vice, Guernica, Literary Hub, and NPR.[6][7] She received the Arab Women/Migrants from the Middle East fellowship at Jack Jones Literary Arts.[6]
Arafat teaches at Barnard College, and has also taught at the School of The New York Times and LIU Post.[6] In 2024, she was interviewed in Seen about Palestinian diaspora writing and her forthcoming essay collection Our Arab.[8]
You Exist Too Much
Arafat's debut novel, You Exist Too Much, was published by Catapult Books in 2020.[9] The novel was reviewed in Kirkus Reviews, NPR, Publishers Weekly, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Irish Times, and Washington Independent Review of Books.[9][10][11][12][13][14] In 2021, it won the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction.[1]
Arafat discussed the novel in interviews and profiles published by Kirkus Reviews, Them, Xtra Magazine, and Huck.[15][16][17][18]
Works
- You Exist Too Much. New York: Catapult Books. 2020. ISBN 9781948226509.
- Our Arab: On Longing, Belonging, and Hope. New York: Little, Brown and Company (Hachette Books). September 29, 2026. ISBN 9780316584685.