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Selma Dabbagh

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Selma Dabbagh
Born1970 (age 53–54)
Dundee, Scotland
Alma materDurham University;
SOAS University of London;
Goldsmiths, University of London
Notable workOut of It (2011)
Websiteselmadabbagh.com/about

Selma Dabbagh (Arabic: سلمى الدباغ) (born 1970) is a British-Palestinian writer and lawyer. Her 2011 debut novel, Out of It, inspired by the 2008 Gaza Air Strikes, was nominated for a Guardian Book of the Year award in 2011 and 2012.[1] Her shorter writings have been published by outlets including International PEN, Granta, The Guardian, London Review of Books and GQ magazine.[2][3]

Early life and education

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Born in Dundee, Scotland, Dabbagh is the daughter of a Palestinian father from Jaffa and an English mother. She lived variously in Dundee, Reading, High Wycombe and Jeddah during her early childhood, before moving to Kuwait when she was eight years old.

Dabbagh graduated from Durham University with a Bachelor of Arts degree and later earned an LL.M. from SOAS University of London. She holds a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from Goldsmiths, University of London.[4] Before concentrating on writing, she worked as a human rights lawyer in the West Bank; however, she was not able to stay in the occupied territory and moved to Cairo, where she worked at AMIDEAST. She later moved to Bahrain, where she wrote her first novel.[5]

Inspiration

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Dabbagh is strongly influenced by Palestine, the greater Palestinian diaspora, and her legal work in human rights and international criminal law.[5] Following the COVID-19 lock-down in London, she described her motivations as "love and resistance."[6]

Works

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Since 2004, she has written short stories that have appeared in New Writing 15 and Qissat: Short Stories by Palestinian Women. She has been a nominee for the Pushcart Prize and twice been a finalist in the Fish Short Story Prize, for "Beirut-Paris-Beirut" (2005) and for "Aubergine" (2004).[2][7][8]

Dabbagh's debut novel Out of It was published in 2011, receiving positive coverage in a wide range of publications and outlets,[9] including Kirkus Reviews,[10] ArabLit,[11] Guernica,[12] and The Independent,[13] with Ahdaf Soueif praising the book as "a new and welcome take on the Palestinian story".[14]

In 2014, Dabbagh's radio play The Brick was broadcast by BBC Radio 4,[15][16] being nominated for an Imison Award.[17]

She edited the anthology We Wrote in Symbols: Love and Lust by Arab Women Writers, published by Saqi in 2021.[18][19]

References

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  1. ^ David B. Green. "A conversation with British-Palestinian writer Selma Dabbagh". Haaretz. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Selma Dabbagh". British Council. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  3. ^ "About". selmadabbagh.com.
  4. ^ "Critical Commentary: The Politics of the Interior: Resistance, Whitewashing and Propaganda in Soraya Antonius's The Lord and Muriel Spark's The Mandelbaum Gate" (PDF). Goldsmiths, University of London. February 2023. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  5. ^ a b Elmusa, Karmah (24 May 2016). "Selma Dabbagh: Writer and Lawyer". Institute for Middle East Understanding. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  6. ^ Lodi, Hafsa (27 March 2022). "Selma Dabbagh is blazing a trail for female empowerment through Arab literature". The National. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  7. ^ Ali, Syed Hamad (27 January 2012). "No borders for fiction writers". Gulf News.
  8. ^ "Fish Writers". Fish Publishing. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  9. ^ "Reviews and Praise | Out of It – Novel". Selma Dabbagh.
  10. ^ "Out of It: Fine work from a gifted writer who has an important subject matter to explore". Kirkus Reviews. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  11. ^ "A Review of 'Out of It,' Selma Dabbagh's Debut Novel". ArabLit. 16 January 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  12. ^ Kurd, Rahat (29 October 2015). "Selma Dabbagh: Out of It". Guernica. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  13. ^ Wallis Simons, Jake (27 November 2011). "Out of It, By Selma Dabbagh - Aren't you a bit young for this conflict?". The Independent. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  14. ^ "Meet the Author – Selma Dabbagh 'Out of It'". Bristol Palestine Film Festival. 29 December 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  15. ^ "The Brick". BBC. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  16. ^ Irving, Sarah (15 January 2014). "Romance and realism merge in Jerusalem-focused radio play". Electronic Intifada. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  17. ^ Scarlet, Mik (19 January 2015). "Sea Changers - Can Literature Change the World?". Huffington Post. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  18. ^ Dabbagh, Selma (ed.). "We Wrote in Symbols: Love and Lust by Arab Women Writers". Saqi. ISBN 9780863563973.
  19. ^ Gupta, Rahila (3 August 2021). "Spotlight: Selma Dabbagh". New Internationalist. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
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