Etaf Rum

Last updated
Etaf Rum
Born Brooklyn, New York
OccupationNovelist
Alma mater North Carolina State University, B.A., B.S., M.A.
Genre Literary fiction
Notable worksA Woman is No Man, Evil Eye
Website
etafrum.com

Etaf Rum is a Palestinian American novelist and New York Times best-selling author of A Woman is No Man (2019) and Evil Eye (2023). [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Etaf Rum was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, to Palestinian parents. Her parents grew up in refugee camps in Palestine before immigrating to the United States, and her grandparents also lived out their lives in refugee camps in Palestine. [2] Rum was raised in a traditional family and entered into an arranged marriage at a young age. She then moved to North Carolina where, at the age of 19, she gave birth to her daughter and son two years later. [3]

While raising her children, Rum enrolled in North Carolina State University, where she earned a B.A. in English Language and Literature, a B.S. in philosophy, and an M.A. in American and British Literature and Philosophy. [4]

Work

Echoes of Rum's experience can be found in her debut novel, A Woman is No Man released in 2019. Frustrated by the restrictions on her life and wondering why she could not pursue the kinds of things a man could, her grandmother told her, "Because. You can't do this because you're not a man." [3]

Rejecting that dictum, Rum pursued her education. As she told NPR's Scott Simon:

I maintained my education despite the pressures around me to stay home and take care of my kids, and slowly, as I educated myself… I began to realize my place in the community and the cycle of trauma and oppression that I [would] be giving my daughter—if I don't speak up for what I want to accomplish with my life, if I don't stand up for myself. [3]

While teaching literature at a local community college, the idea of a novel first occurred to her. She realized that literature on the Arab American experience from a female perspective hardly existed and needed to be told. [5]

Rum's second novel Evil Eye was released in 2023 and was named an NPR Best Book of the Year. [6] The story explores themes of intergenerational trauma, mental health and illness, and gendered oppression. [7] In an interview with Shondaland, Rum stated:

I really wanted to paint a very realistic portrait of what some women in the world still struggle with despite the endless feminism, the #MeToo movement that’s given us a voice, and how empowered we are now compared to the previous generations. [7]

Personal life

Rum lives in Rocky Mount, North Carolina with her children; she is divorced. [3] [5] She runs the Instagram account @booksandbeans and posts there about her favorite books each month as a Book of the Month Club Ambassador. [8] Rum has been vocal online about advocating for Palestinian liberation. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Barker</span> English writer and novelist

Patricia Mary W. Barker,, Hon FBA is an English writer and novelist. She has won many awards for her fiction, which centres on themes of memory, trauma, survival and recovery. She is known for her Regeneration Trilogy, published in the 1990s, and, more recently, a series of books set during the Trojan War, starting with The Silence of the Girls in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Grossman</span> Israeli author (born 1954)

David Grossman is an Israeli author. His books have been translated into more than 30 languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Dessen</span> American novelist

Sarah Dessen is an American novelist who lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Born in Illinois, Dessen graduated from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Her first book, That Summer, was published in 1996. She has since published more than a dozen other novels and novellas. In 2017, Dessen won the Margaret Edwards Award for some of her work. Two of her books were adapted into the 2003 film How to Deal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahdaf Soueif</span> Egyptian novelist

Ahdaf Soueif is an Egyptian novelist and political and cultural commentator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suad Amiry</span> Palestinian author and architect

Suad Amiry is a Palestinian author and architect living in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

<i>The Passion According to G.H.</i> Book by Clarice Lispector

The Passion According to G.H. is a mystical novel by Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector, published in 1964. The work takes the form of a monologue by a woman, identified only as G.H., telling of the crisis that ensued the previous day after she crushed a cockroach in the door of a wardrobe. Its canonical status was recognized in 1988 by its inclusion in the Arquivos Collection, the UNESCO series of critical editions of the greatest works of Latin American literature. It has been translated into English twice, the first time in 1988 by Ronald W. Sousa, and then by Idra Novey in 2012.

Sahar Khalifeh is a Palestinian writer. She has written eleven novels, which have been translated into English, French, Hebrew, German, Spanish, and many other languages. One of her best-known works is the novel Wild Thorns (1976). She has won international prizes, including the 2006 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature, for The Image, the Icon, and the Covenant. Khalifeh obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Birzeit University, Palestine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palestinian literature</span>

Palestinian literature refers to the Arabic language novels, short stories and poems produced by Palestinians. Forming part of the broader genre of Arabic literature, contemporary Palestinian literature is often characterized by its heightened sense of irony and the exploration of existential themes and issues of identity. References to the subjects of resistance to occupation, exile, loss, and love and longing for homeland are also common.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maysoon Zayid</span> American actress

Maysoon Zayid is an American actress and comedian. Of Palestinian descent, she is known as one of America's first Muslim women comedians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Abulhawa</span> Palestinian-American writer and political activist

Susan Abulhawa is a Palestinian writer and human rights activist and animal rights advocate. She is the author of several books, and the founder of a non-governmental organization, Playgrounds for Palestine. Her first novel, Mornings in Jenin, was translated into 32 languages and sold more than a million copies. The sales and reach of her debut novel made Abulhawa the most widely read Palestinian author of all time. Her second novel, The Blue Between Sky And Water, was sold in 19 languages before its release, and was published in English in 2015. Against the Loveless World, her third novel, was released in August 2020, also to critical acclaim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanan Ashrawi</span> Palestinian legislator, activist, and scholar (born 1946)

Hanan Daoud Mikhael Ashrawi is a Palestinian politician, activist, and scholar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aja Monet</span> American poet

Aja Monet Bacquie is an American contemporary poet, writer, lyricist and activist based in Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huzama Habayeb</span> Palestinian writer

Huzama Habayeb ) is a Palestinian novelist, storyteller, columnist, translator, and poet who has won multiple awards such as the Mahmoud Seif Eddin Al-Erani Award for Short Stories, Jerusalem Festival of Youth Innovation in Short Stories, and Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature. Upon graduating from Kuwait University in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts in English language and Literature, she pursued careers in journalism, teaching, and translation before she eventually started to write professionally as a published author. She is a member of both the Jordanian Writers Association and the Arab Writers Federation.

Terese Marie Mailhot is a First Nation Canadian writer, journalist, memoirist, and teacher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hala Alyan</span> Palestinian-American writer (born 1986)

Hala Alyan is a Palestinian-American writer, poet, and clinical psychologist who specializes in trauma, addiction, and cross-cultural behavior. Her writing covers aspects of identity and the effects of displacement, particularly within the Palestinian diaspora. She is also known for acting in the short films I Say Dust and Tallahassee.

Tracy Deonn is an American author. Her debut novel Legendborn (2020) was a New York Times bestseller and received a Coretta Scott King–John Steptoe Award for New Talent and the 2021 Ignyte Award for Best Young Adult Novel. The sequel novel Bloodmarked was published in 2022 and also became a #1 New York Times bestseller.

Wasim a-Sayed is a Palestinian serial killer who was responsible for three fatal stabbings in the city of Jerusalem in 2019 and 2022. He was captured by Israeli security forces in January 2022 after attempting to cross the Israeli West Bank barrier.

Refqa Abu-Remaileh is a university teacher and author with a focus on Modern Arabic literature and film studies. Since 2020, she is associate professor in the department for Semitic and Arabic Studies at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. She is mainly known for her publications on the literature and films created by Palestinian people who often live as refugees and exiles, both in the Middle East and the world-wide Palestinian diaspora.

Malak Mattar is a Palestinian painter, illustrator, and author of children's books. She is from Gaza.

Etaf Nabeel Al-Sawi is a Palestinian women's international footballer who plays as a midfielder for Al Nassr and the Palestine national football team.

References

  1. "Etaf Rum". HarperCollins . Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  2. "Uncovering The Secrets Of Palestinian-American Women". The State of Things . WUNC. April 25, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Interview: Etaf Rum, Author Of 'A Woman Is No Man' : NPR". Weekend Edition . NPR. March 2, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  4. Rum, Etaf (December 14, 2018). "A Year in Reading: Etaf Rum". The Millions . Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  5. 1 2 White, Jenny (June 18, 2019). "Local author pens best-selling novel". Rocky Mount Telegram . Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  6. "Books We Love". NPR. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
  7. 1 2 "In Her Second Novel, Etaf Rum Tries to Break the Cycle of Intergenerational Trauma". Shondaland. 2023-09-04. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
  8. "Meet Etaf Rum, aka @booksandbeans". Book of the Month Club. January 12, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2019.
  9. "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2024-03-01.