Anbara Salam

Last updated
Anbara Salam
Alma mater
Years active2017–present
PartnerStruan Murray
Children1
Family Anbara Salam Khalidi (great-grandmother)
Website www.anbarasalam.com

Anbara Salam is a British author of historical fiction. She wrote the novels Things Bright and Beautiful (2018), Belladonna (2020), and Hazardous Spirits (2023).

Contents

Early life

Salam grew up in London with her younger siblings. [1] Her Palestinian-Lebanese Muslim father and Scottish Presbyterian mother met in England in the 1980s as an international student and working-class librarian respectively. [2] Salam's great-grandmother and namesake was Lebanese feminist Anbara Salam Khalidi. Salam attended a day school in London. [3] She was commended as a Foyle Young Poet in 2001 and a top 15 winner in 2002. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English and History from the University of York [4] and later pursued a PhD in Theology at St Antony's College, Oxford. [5] [6]

Career

In 2017, it was announced Fig Tree (a Penguin Books imprint) had won a three-way auction to publish Salam's debut novel Things Bright and Beautiful in April 2018. [7] The novel, centred around a married missionary couple in the New Hebrides, [8] was inspired by her own experience living in Vanuatu for sixth months. At the time, outside of writing, Salam worked for an NGO that provided refugee students with postgraduate scholarships. [5]

Fig Tree would go on to publish Salam's second novel Belladonna: Our Italian Year, which took two years to write and edit, [1] in 2020. Set in the 1950s, the novel follows Bridget and Isabella, a pair of American Catholic school friends from Connecticut who win scholarships to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Pentila in northern Italy. [9] Belladonna appeared on The New Arab's list of best books by Arab authors that year. [10]

In 2022, Salam moved to Baskerville (an imprint of Hachette UK) for a two-book deal. [11] She had begun writing her third novel, a paranormal occult mystery set in 1920s Edinburgh, during the COVID-19 lockdown. The novel, titled Hazardous Spirits, was released in October 2023. [12]

Personal life

Salam lives in Oxford with her partner Struan Murray, also a writer, and their child (born 2021). [13] She is queer and used her novel Belladonna to come out to her parents, an experience she wrote about in the essay "Unheld Conversations". [14]

Bibliography

Novels

Short stories and essays

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References

  1. 1 2 Mowbray, Beth (4 July 2020). "Q&A: Anbara Salam, Author of 'Belladonna'". The Nerd Daily. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  2. ↑ Salam, Anbara (31 August 2018). "Granny, Teta and me: what my grandmothers taught me about being mixed race". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  3. ↑ Flyn, Cal. "The Best Boarding School Novels recommended by Anbara Salam". Five Books. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  4. ↑ "Foyle Friday 5: Michael Donkor & Anbara Salam". Young Poets Network. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  5. 1 2 Rabbani, Waheed (2020). "Anbara Salam: an Emerging Voice on the Historical Fiction Horizon". Historical Novel Society. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  6. ↑ "Anbara Salam Books". Pango. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  7. ↑ Shaffi, Sarah (17 March 2017). "Débutante Salam looks to blossom with Fig Tree". The Bookseller. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  8. ↑ Barekat, Houman (5 April 2018). "Things Bright and Beautiful by Anbara Salam review: missionary prose". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  9. ↑ Amanda (9 June 2022). "Review: Belladonna". Between the Shelves. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  10. ↑ Jahshan, Elias (22 December 2020). "The best books by Arab authors in 2020". The New Arab. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  11. ↑ Brown, Lauren (4 October 2022). "Salam moves to Baskerville with two 'exquisite' gothic mysteries". The Bookseller. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  12. ↑ Mabbott, Alastair (29 October 2023). "Book review: Hazardous Spirits by Anbara Salam". The Herald. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  13. ↑ Ambrose, Caroline (17 March 2018). "Interview: Struan Murray, winner of the Bath Children's Novel Award 2017". Bath Novel Award. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  14. ↑ Salam, Anbara (21 June 2022). "This Arab is Queer: Unheld Conversations". The New Arab. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  15. ↑ Anbara Salam (2019). "2019 Berlin Writing Prize: Circus Freak by Anbara Salam (Runner-up)". The Reader Berlin. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
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