Najwa Zebian

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Najwa Zebian
Born (1990-04-26) 26 April 1990 (age 35)
Bekaa, Lebanon
Citizenship
  • Canadian
  • Lebanese
Occupations
  • Activist
  • Author
  • Speaker
  • Educator
Notable workMind Platter (2016)
The Nectar of Pain (2016)
Sparks of Phoenix (2019)
The Book of Healing (2021)
Welcome Home (2021)
Conversations on Letting Go (2022)
The Only Constant(2024)
Website www.najwazebian.com

Najwa Zebian (born April 26, 1990) is a Lebanese-Canadian activist, author, poet, and speaker.

Contents

Early life and education

Zebian was born in Bekaa, Lebanon and moved to Ontario, Canada at sixteen during the 2006 Lebanon War. [1] [2] [3] She attended the University of Western Ontario, earning a Bachelor of Science in Biology in 2010 and a Master of Education in Curriculum Studies in 2013. She continued her studies and earned a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership in 2022. [4] She resides in London, Ontario. [5]

Career

Zebian self-published her first book, Mind Platter, in January 2016. [6] She described it as a "compilation of reflections on life, as seen through the eyes of an educator, student, and human who experienced her early days in silence." [7] In its first month, Mind Platter earned $2,300, which Zebian donated to the Syrian Refugee Fund in London. She also allocated a portion of her profits to finance summer activities for city high school students. [8] In March 2018, a revised and expanded version of Mind Platter was published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. [9]

Her second book, The Nectar of Pain, [10] combined poetry and prose about the feelings elicited by romantic break-ups, was self-published in October 2016. [11] [12] A revised and expanded edition was released in March 2018 by Andrews McMeel Publishing. [9]

In 2017, Zebian participated in the #MeToo movement when she spoke about being a victim of sexual harassment by an authority figure with whom she worked as a teacher. [13] [14] She wrote of her abuse: "I was blamed for it. I was told not to talk about it. I was told that it wasn’t that bad. I was told to get over it." An excerpt of her comments was referenced by the New York Times, [15] [16] and one of her poems was featured in news stories about the #MeToo movement.

In March 2019, Zebian's third book, Sparks of Phoenix, [17] was published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. The collection talks about healing from abuse. [18] [11] [19]

In 2022, former high school principal Michael Deeb pursued a $500,000 defamation lawsuit against Zebian regarding her 2017 #MeToo Facebook post that accused Deeb of "power abuse, gendered violence and financial abuse." [20] [21] During the hearing where Zebian sought to have the lawsuit dismissed, Superior Court Justice Spencer Nicholson stated:

"The difficulty in this case is that Ms. Zebian employs labels to describe Mr. Deeb’s conduct that a reasonable person, of any culture, religion or race, might conclude do not apply to his behaviour.  Some of the descriptions used could be considered to be exaggerated.  Some of her post appears to be inaccurate factually.  For example, Ms. Zebian paints a picture of Mr. Deeb pursuing her, when there is some basis in the evidence before this court to conclude that she was the aggressor, at least later in the relationship." [20]  

Published works

See also

References

  1. ↑ Dundas, Deborah (18 April 2019). "Najwa Zebian on how poetry helps her define home". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  2. ↑ "London Writer Joins #MeToo Campaign". London. 12 January 2018. Archived from the original on 20 January 2018. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  3. ↑ "A Day in the Life with Canadian author Najwa Zebian". Toronto Guardian. June 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
  4. ↑ Graham, Andrew (14 February 2024). "Dr. Najwa Zebian on the transformative power of authenticity". Faculty of Education. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  5. ↑ Hawksley, Rupert (1 November 2018). "Najwa Zebian: writing was genuinely my only way of dealing with the world". The National. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  6. ↑ Zebian, Najwa (27 March 2018). Mind Platter. Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN   978-1-4494-9551-0.
  7. ↑ "Mind Platter".
  8. ↑ Beitollahi, Yasamin (12 May 2016). "Millennials Paving The Way: Najwa Zebian, Author of "Mind Platter"". HuffPost. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  9. 1 2 "Is Najwa Zebian poised to be the next Rupi Kaur?". Quill and Quire. 12 February 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  10. ↑ Zebian, Najwa (2 October 2018). The Nectar of Pain. Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN   978-1-4494-9988-4.
  11. 1 2 "Najwa Zebian: Healing through the power of words". The Gazette • Western University's Student Newspaper. 9 January 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  12. ↑ "The Nectar of Pain".
  13. ↑ "Facebook admits it made a mistake pulling post that sparked police investigation". CBC.
  14. ↑ "London principal takes legal action against poet Najwa Zebian". CBC.
  15. ↑ "Najwa Zebian: The Lebanese poet speaking up about the #MeToo movement". The National. 8 January 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  16. ↑ Codrea-Rado, Anna (16 October 2017). "#MeToo Floods Social Media With Stories of Harassment and Assault". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  17. ↑ Zebian, Najwa (5 March 2019). Sparks of Phoenix. Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN   978-1-5248-5272-6.
  18. ↑ "#MeToo: How Lebanon-born poet Najwa Zebian stood up to her harasser". Emirates Woman. 19 April 2018. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  19. ↑ "Poet Najwa Zebian rises again with Sparks of Phoenix". Quill and Quire. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  20. 1 2 "Deeb v. Zebian, 2022 ONSC 6947 (CanLII)". 8 December 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
  21. ↑ Sims, Jane (17 December 2022). "Judge allows defamation lawsuit over #MeToo claims to go ahead". The London Free Press. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
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