Abu Bakr Al-Rabeeah is a Canadian writer, whose memoir Homes: A Refugee Story, cowritten with Winnie Yeung, was published in 2018. [1]
Originally from Iraq, Al-Rabeeah moved with his family to Homs, Syria in 2010 to escape persecution due to their status as minority Sunni Muslims, but were soon forced to move again due to the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. [2] He and his family have lived in Edmonton, Alberta since 2014, [3] and Yeung was his English as a second language teacher at the time he began to consider writing the book. [3]
The book was self-published in 2016, before being picked up for commercial republication by Freehand Books in 2018. [4]
It was a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction at the 2018 Governor General's Awards, [5] and for the 2019 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. [6] It was selected for the 2019 edition of Canada Reads , where it was defended by Chuck Comeau. [7]
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate on 23 August 634. Umar was a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He was also an expert Muslim jurist known for his pious and just nature, which earned him the epithet Al-Fārūq. The title Amir al-Mu'minin was held by Umar ibn Khattab who was also the first one to be given this title.
Raymond Fraser was a Canadian biographer, editor, essayist, memoirist, novelist, poet and short story writer. Fraser published fourteen books of fiction, three of non-fiction, and eight poetry collections. Fraser's writings were praised by such literary figures as Farley Mowat, Irving Layton, Louis Dudek, Alden Nowlan, Sheila Watson, Leonard Cohen, Hugh Garner, and Michael Cook.
Myrna Kostash is a Canadian writer and journalist. She has published several non-fiction books and written for many Canadian magazines including Chatelaine. Of Ukrainian descent, she was born in Edmonton, Alberta and educated at the University of Alberta, the University of Washington, and the University of Toronto. She resides in Edmonton, Alberta.
The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing is a Canadian literary award, presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada to the best nonfiction book on Canadian political and social issues. It has been presented annually in Ottawa at the Writers’ Trust Politics and the Pen gala since 2000, superseding the organization's defunct Gordon Montador Award.
The Governor General's Award for English-language fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a fiction book written in English. It is one of fourteen Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit, seven each for creators of English- and French-language books. The awards was created by the Canadian Authors Association in partnership with Lord Tweedsmuir in 1936. In 1959, the award became part of the Governor General's Awards program at the Canada Council for the Arts in 1959. The age requirement is 18 and up.
Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr, was the youngest son of the first Islamic caliph Abu Bakr. His mother was Asma bint Umais, who was a widow of Ja'far ibn Abi Talib prior to her second marriage with Abu Bakr. He became the stepson of the fourth caliph Ali, and became one of his generals. He was one of the main figures in rebellion against Uthman and was actively involved in siege of his house which resulted in caliph's death.
David John Chariandy is a Canadian writer and academic, presently working as a professor of English literature at Simon Fraser University. His 2017 novel Brother won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and Toronto Book Award.
Chris Turner is a Canadian journalist and author.
Freehand Books is a Canadian literary imprint started in 2007 by Broadview Press, a Canadian academic publisher. Freehand publishes literary fiction, literary non-fiction, memoir and poetry.
Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri, commonly known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was an Iraqi terrorist who was the first caliph of the Islamic State from 2014 until his death.
Kamal Al-Solaylee is a Canadian journalist, who published his debut book, Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes, in 2012. He is currently director of the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media at Canada's University of British Columbia.
Marcello Di Cintio is a Canadian writer who has published several books, and many articles and essays in newspapers and magazines across North America and in the United Kingdom. In addition, he has worked as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Calgary, the Calgary Public Library, and the Palestine Writing Workshop.
Ahmad Danny Ramadan is a Syrian–Canadian novelist, public speaker, and LGBTQ-refugee activist who was born in Damascus, Syria. Ramadan's work focuses on themes of immigration, identity, diaspora and belonging. His debut novel, The Clothesline Swing, won multiple awards. The Foghorn Echoes won the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction.
Tanya Talaga is a Canadian journalist and author of Anishinaabe and Polish descent. She worked as a journalist at the Toronto Star for over twenty years, covering health, education, local issues, and investigations. She is now a regular columnist with the Globe and Mail. Her 2017 book Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City was met with acclaim, winning the 2018 RBC Taylor Prize for non-fiction and the 2017 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. Talaga is the first woman of Anishinaabe descent to be named a CBC Massey Lecturer. She holds honorary doctorates from Lakehead University and from Ryerson University.
Norma Dunning is an Inuk Canadian writer and assistant lecturer at the University of Alberta, who won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award in 2018 for her short story collection Annie Muktuk and Other Stories. In the same year, she won the Writers' Guild of Alberta's Howard O'Hagan Award for the short story "Elipsee", and was a shortlisted finalist for the City of Edmonton Book Award. She published in 2020 a collection of poetry and stories entitled Eskimo Pie: A Poetics of Inuit Identity.
Lindsay Wong is a Canadian writer, whose memoir The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug Raids, Demons, and My Crazy Chinese Family was published in 2018. The book, a humorous memoir about her Chinese Canadian family's history of mental illness, won the 2019 Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize and was a shortlisted finalist for the 2019 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
Winnie Yeung is a Canadian school teacher and writer who co-wrote Homes: A Refugee Story with high school student Abu Bakr Al-Rabeeah.
Harley Rustad is a Canadian journalist, magazine editor, and author of Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas and Big Lonely Doug: The Story of One of Canada’s Last Great Trees.