I’d wanted to put together an Arab American fiction section for several years.
Years.
The section remained a no-go for some reason though, but maybe it was for the best: Randa Jarrar, who guest-edited the section, did an amazing job for Guernica.
I’d published Randa about year at Guernica. I remember thinking that her writing was evocative of Arab American culture—yet also very American (if such facile labels can be given; such labels are annoying, I know).
Read her opening essay on Arab American writing and read how, as she says, “Arab American fiction is American literature.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Look for work from these authors in the section:
The Oracle, by Diana Abu-Jaber
East Beirut, 1978, by Patricia Sarrafian Ward
The Bastard of Salinas, by Laila Halaby
