“In acquiring my gender, I had become offensive.“
- Name: Zaina Arafat
- From: Currently living in Brooklyn, New York
- Pronouns: She/her
- Contribution/Impact: Arafat’s You Exist Too Much was selected as the most anticipated book of 2020 by several organizations and is recognized for her LGBTQ and Arab women/migrant representation.
- Occupation: Writer, Journalist, Professor
- Known For: You Exist Too Much (2020)
- Awards: Arab Women/Migrants from the Middle East fellowship Award at Jack Jones Literary Arts.
Zania Arafat is a first-generation Palestinian-American writer of fiction and nonfiction. Her short stories and essays have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Grant, and many more. Arafat’s writing career started in international reporting, however she found her writing undergoing a ‘genre metamorphosis’. Her journalism moved towards cultural essays, then cultural essays moved to personal essays, finally moving into creative writing. She has taught writing at universities including the University of Iowa and The School of the New York Times.
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