The Weight of Ghosts

The Weight of Ghosts

Available at: The Weight of Ghosts is a lyrical memoir by an author struggling with the death of her older son and sifting through the details of her life. The Weight of Ghosts is a circling of grief following the death of the author’s older son when he was twenty-one, a horror that was compounded by her…

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why an author writes to a guy holding a fish: poems

Available at: A story in verse chronicling the misadventures of a recently divorced Lebanese woman dating in America. Laila Halaby’s second collection of poetry, why an author writes to a guy holding a fish is a story in verse. This honest, sensual, and often funny series of narrative poems chronicles the author’s decision to leave her two-decades-long…

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my name on his tongue

Available at: Intensely personal and marked with a trenchant wit, these poems form a memoir following Halaby’s life as they explore the disorientation of exile, the challenge of navigating two cultures, and the struggle to shape her own creative identity. She shares the struggles of growing up—the desire for belonging and the solace of community—with…

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Once in a Promised Land

Available at: A Book Sense Notable Title A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection Named one of the 100 best fiction books of 2007 by the Washington Post Once in a Promised Landis the story of Jassim and Salwa, who left the deserts of their native Jordan for those of Arizona, each chasing…

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Once in a Promised Land

Available at: A Book Sense Notable Title A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection Named one of the 100 best fiction books of 2007 by the Washington Post Once in a Promised Landis the story of Jassim and Salwa, who left the deserts of their native Jordan for those of Arizona, each chasing…

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West of the Jordan

Available at: A NovelA Bluestreak Original PaperbackBeacon PressISBN: 978-0-8070-8359-8 This is a brilliant and revelatory first novel by a woman who is both an Arab and an American, who speaks with both voices and understands both worlds. Through the narratives of four cousins at the brink of maturity, Laila Halaby immerses her readers in the…

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