Norma Khouri is the pen name of author Norma Bagain Toliopoulos (born Norma Bagain in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

in 1970). She is the author of the book titled '' Forbidden Love'' (known under its original title in Australia, Britain, and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

nations and as ''Honor Lost'' in the United States). The book was published by

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

in 2003. The book, which became a

bestseller A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...

, purported to describe the

honor killing An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member of a family, by someone seeking to protect what they see as the dignity and honor of t ...

of her best friend in Jordan. After criticism from Jordanian writers and groups in regards to numerous errors, the book was exposed as a

literary hoax Literary forgery (also known as literary mystification, literary fraud or literary hoax) is writing, such as a manuscript or a literary work, which is either deliberately misattributed to a historical or invented author, or is a purported memoir ...

in 2004.

Early life

Khouri was born in

in 1970, and moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

with her parents in 1973. She attended a Catholic school in

South Chicago South Chicago, formerly known as Ainsworth, is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois. This chevron-shaped community is one of Chicago's 16 lakefront neighborhoods near the southern rim of Lake Michigan 10 miles south of downtown. ...

. In 1993, she married John Toliopoulos, the father of her two children, Zoe and Christopher. In about 2001, Khouri, Toliopoulos and their children moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, from where she published a non-fiction account of the honour killing of her best friend in Jordan. After the revelation of her literary hoax made headline news, she moved back to the United States. She is the subject of the 2007 film '' Forbidden Lie$''.

''Forbidden Love'' hoax

On July 24, 2004,

Malcolm Knox Sir Thomas Malcolm Knox (28 November 1900 – 6 April 1980) was a British philosopher who served as Principal of St Andrews University from 1953–1966 and Vice-president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1975–1978. Biography Knox ...

, literary editor of the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'', revealed that Khouri was not living in Jordan during 1993-1995 (the timeframe of ''Forbidden Love''), but was living in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

with her husband, John Toliopoulos, and her two children. She had not lived in Jordan since her early childhood, except for a three-week stay during which she apparently researched the background for her book. Knox further revealed accusations that Khouri had left the United States while being investigated for defrauding an elderly neighbor. Things were further complicated for

Random House Australia Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, because Khouri was sponsored under the category of nomination for distinguished talent in 2002. On July 28, 2004, the Australian

Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) was a department of the Government of Australia that was responsible for immigration, citizenship and border control (including visa issuance). It has now been subsumed into the Depa ...

announced that Khouri was cleared of violating visa conditions, but Khouri had already left the country of her own accord. Khouri said she would co-operate with all requests to provide documentation and was said to be preparing to publish her next book ''A Matter of Honour'' in November 2004, again by Random House. It appears that this book was not released, as on August 18, 2004, Khouri admitted publicly that she took "literary licence" with the book, claiming that she did not receive any payment or royalties for writing it.

References

External links

* Blog articles :* * News stories :* :* :* :* {{DEFAULTSORT:Khouri, Norma 1970 births Living people Jordanian emigrants to the United States Jordanian women writers Literary forgeries 21st-century women writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers