About me.

I work with words. I'm an Austin-based freelance book editor and award-winning author of The Skin and Its Girl, a Stonewall Honor Book & shortlistee for the 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize in Fiction. I have an MFA from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, where I was a Rona Jaffe Graduate Creative Writing Fellow. My writing has appeared in The Rumpus, Washington Post, Lit Hub, Electric Literature, Mizna, New Ohio Review, North American Review, and others.

As a writer and photographer, I'm interested in how people define and identify with one another’s differences. Since 2003, I’ve experimented with queer narratives drawn from my Lebanese background and told them with a fabulist twist. Lately, I’m interested in the fuzzy border between human and nonhuman worlds. My hard drive contains multitudes.

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Writing

Debut Fiction |

Short Fiction |

Essays |

CV |

Editing Work |

Photos

Click through to see pictures of a traditional Nabulsi soap factory, shots from around the West Bank, and wildlife photos from Virginia and California. I hold the copyright to all images and reserve all rights.

Soap worker, Nablus

Wrapping cubes of soap in the Tuqan factory

Tuqan soap factory, Nablus

Soap towers drying on second floor

Soap vat, Nablus

Tuqan soap vat, first floor

Father and boy with ice cream, Nablus, Old City

Blue door, Nablus

Poppies on Mt. Gerizim, West Bank

Leaf and stump, Easthampton, MA

Great blue heron, Stowe, VT

Tule elk, Tomales Point, CA

Great Horned Owl, Marin Headlands

Red-Tailed Hawk, Marin Headlands

Wary Jackrabbit, Marin Headlands

Raccoon Family, Alexandria, VA

First Snow, Alexandria, VA

Cat Toes on Film, Virginia

Barred Owl, Dyke Marsh, VA

Winter Kingfisher, Virginia

Rodeo Lagoon, Marin Headlands

Cedar Waxwings, Virginia

Four-Mile Armada, Virginia

Squirrel, Virginia

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News & Blog

News and Blog

Jul 16, 2024

Shortlist: The 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction

Jul 16, 2024

THE SKIN AND ITS GIRL makes this year’s shortlist for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction, celebrating book-length work of imaginative fiction.

Jul 16, 2024

Oct 15, 2023

Book box giveaway for humanitarian aid to Gaza

Oct 15, 2023

Donate $100 to MECA, PCRF, Anera, or UNRWA by midnight October 29, 2023, and get a chance to win six books, including a signed first edition of The Skin and Its Girl.

Oct 15, 2023

May 2, 2023

Reviews of THE SKIN AND ITS GIRL

May 2, 2023

Kind words about THE SKIN AND ITS GIRL after a week in the world

May 2, 2023

Apr 20, 2023

I'm teaching at The Loft!

Apr 20, 2023

Join me for summer virtual classes!

Apr 20, 2023

Apr 11, 2023

RSVP links for the book tour!

Apr 11, 2023

Please help me celebrate my debut novel!

Apr 11, 2023

Jan 3, 2023

Books for the New Year

Jan 3, 2023

THE SKIN AND ITS GIRL Named a "Vibrant Debut" among 2023's "Buzziest" Novels

Jan 3, 2023

Dec 7, 2022

The Holidays Are Bright

Dec 7, 2022

NBC’s The Today Show names THE SKIN AND ITS GIRL one of 2023's most-anticipated novels.

Dec 7, 2022

Oct 29, 2022

New Substack post: Find the Right Agent

Oct 29, 2022

These five lessons took 20 years to sink in.

Oct 29, 2022

Oct 9, 2022

Preorder links and COVER REVEAL for The Skin and Its Girl

Oct 9, 2022

Delighted to share this with the world. Can’t hardly wait till April.

Oct 9, 2022

Jul 13, 2022

Wild Summer

Jul 13, 2022

I kept track of all 150+ species I encountered on my 350+ miles of running and hiking since June 2, as part of my open studio at the Headlands Center for the Arts. Believe it or not, this is what writing a new novel looks like.

Jul 13, 2022