Anbara Salam

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For her great-grandmother, see Anbara Salam Khalidi.
Anbara Salam
Alma mater
Years active2017–present
PartnerStruan Murray
Children1
FamilyAnbara Salam Khalidi (great-grandmother)
Websitewww.anbarasalam.com

Anbara Salam is a British author of historical fiction. She wrote the novels Things Bright and Beautiful (2018), Belladonna (2020), and Hazardous Spirits (2023).

Early life[edit]

Salam grew up in London with her younger siblings.[1] Her Palestinian-Lebanese Muslim father and Scottish Presbyterian mother met in England in the 1980s as an international student and working-class librarian respectively.[2] Salam's great-grandmother and namesake was Lebanese feminist Anbara Salam Khalidi. Salam attended a day school in London.[3] She was commended as a Foyle Young Poet in 2001 and a top 15 winner in 2002. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English and History from the University of York[4] and later pursued a PhD in Theology at St Antony's College, Oxford.[5][6]

Career[edit]

In 2017, it was announced Fig Tree (a Penguin Books imprint) had won a three-way auction to publish Salam's debut novel Things Bright and Beautiful in April 2018.[7] The novel, centred around a married missionary couple in the New Hebrides,[8] was inspired by her own experience living in Vanuatu for sixth months. At the time, outside of writing, Salam worked for an NGO that provided refugee students with postgraduate scholarships.[5]

Fig Tree would go on to publish Salam's second novel Belladonna: Our Italian Year, which took two years to write and edit,[1] in 2020. Set in the 1950s, the novel follows Bridget and Isabella, a pair of American Catholic school friends from Connecticut who win scholarships to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Pentila in northern Italy.[9] Belladonna appeared on The New Arab's list of best books by Arab authors that year.[10]

In 2022, Salam moved to Baskerville (an imprint of Hachette UK) for a two-book deal.[11] She had begun writing her third novel, a paranormal occult mystery set in 1920s Edinburgh, during the COVID-19 lockdown. The novel, titled Hazardous Spirits, was released in October 2023.[12]

Personal life[edit]

Salam lives in Oxford with her partner Struan Murray, also a writer, and their child (born 2021).[13] She is queer and used her novel Belladonna to come out to her parents, an experience she wrote about in the essay "Unheld Conversations".[14]

Bibliography[edit]

Novels[edit]

  • Things Bright and Beautiful (2018)
  • Belladonna: Our Italian Year (2020)
  • Hazardous Spirits (2023)

Short stories and essays[edit]

  • "Downtown Beirut", essay in Five Dials N. 45: Europe in Pieces (2018)
  • "Circus Freak", short story in The Circus (2019) for the Berlin Writing Prize (Runner-up)[15]
  • "Unheld Conversations", essay in This Arab is Queer (2022), edited by Elias Jahshan

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Mowbray, Beth (4 July 2020). "Q&A: Anbara Salam, Author of 'Belladonna'". The Nerd Daily. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  2. ^ Salam, Anbara (31 August 2018). "Granny, Teta and me: what my grandmothers taught me about being mixed race". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  3. ^ Flyn, Cal. "The Best Boarding School Novels recommended by Anbara Salam". Five Books. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  4. ^ "Foyle Friday 5: Michael Donkor & Anbara Salam". Young Poets Network. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  5. ^ a b Rabbani, Waheed (2020). "Anbara Salam: an Emerging Voice on the Historical Fiction Horizon". Historical Novel Society. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  6. ^ "Anbara Salam Books". Pango. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  7. ^ Shaffi, Sarah (17 March 2017). "Débutante Salam looks to blossom with Fig Tree". The Bookseller. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  8. ^ Barekat, Houman (5 April 2018). "Things Bright and Beautiful by Anbara Salam review: missionary prose". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  9. ^ Amanda (9 June 2022). "Review: Belladonna". Between the Shelves. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  10. ^ Jahshan, Elias (22 December 2020). "The best books by Arab authors in 2020". The New Arab. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  11. ^ Brown, Lauren (4 October 2022). "Salam moves to Baskerville with two 'exquisite' gothic mysteries". The Bookseller. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  12. ^ Mabbott, Alastair (29 October 2023). "Book review: Hazardous Spirits by Anbara Salam". The Herald. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  13. ^ Ambrose, Caroline (17 March 2018). "Interview: Struan Murray, winner of the Bath Children's Novel Award 2017". Bath Novel Award. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  14. ^ Salam, Anbara (21 June 2022). "This Arab is Queer: Unheld Conversations". The New Arab. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  15. ^ Anbara Salam (2019). "2019 Berlin Writing Prize: Circus Freak by Anbara Salam (Runner-up)". The Reader Berlin. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
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