Isabella Mariam S. Hammad is a British-Palestinian author. In 2023, she was included on the ''Granta'' Best of Young British Novelists list.

Biography

Hammad grew up in

Acton Acton may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Acton Australia * Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie * Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton Canada ...

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North London ...

. Her Palestinian father, whose family were from

Nablus Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...

, had previously lived in Lebanon. Hammad studied English at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. After undertaking a literature fellowship at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, she went on to complete a creative writing MFA at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. Hammad splits her time between London,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and

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Awards and honours

In 2019, Hammad was a

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...

's "5 Under 35" honoree. The same year, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' named her debut novel, ''The Parisian'', one of the Notable Books of the year, and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' included Hammad on their list of the year's "writers of exceptional first novels". ''The Guardian'' described her second book, ''Enter Ghost'', as being "a story of

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

, driven by questions of identity and belonging." It was shortlisted for the 2024

Encore Award The £10,000 Encore Award for the best second novel was first awarded in 1990. It is sponsored by Lucy Astor. The award fills a niche in the catalogue of literary prizes by celebrating the achievement of outstanding second novels, often neglecte ...

, given by the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

to celebrate the "difficult second novel" that follows an author's literary debut, going on to be chosen as the winner. In 2020, Hammad received a Lannan Foundation Literary Fellowship, and in 2023, she was included on the ''Granta'' Best of Young British Novelists list, compiled every 10 years since 1983, identifying the 20 most significant British novelists aged under 40. She has also received a Gerald Freund Fellowship from MacDowell and an Axinn Foundation Fellowship from

. She was a speaker at the Palestine Writes Literature Festival in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania, on 22 September 2023. She delivered the Edward Said Memorial Lecture, entitled "Recognizing the Stranger", at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

at the end of September 2023. She was elected a 2024–2025 Cullman Center Fellow at the

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

Books

*''The Parisian'' (Jonathan Cape, December 2019) *''Enter Ghost'' (Grove Press, April 2023)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hammad, Isabella Living people 1990s births 21st-century British women writers 21st-century English novelists 21st-century English writers Alumni of the University of Oxford British women short story writers English people of Northern Ireland descent English people of Palestinian descent English short story writers English women novelists New York University alumni Palestinian novelists Palestinian women novelists People from Acton, London People from Hammersmith Writers from the London Borough of Ealing Writers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Year of birth missing (living people)