Samra Habib is a Pakistani

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

photographer, writer and activist. They are most noted for ''Just Me and Allah'', a photography project they launched in 2014 to document the lives of

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

Muslims, and ''We Have Always Been Here'', a memoir of their experience as a queer-identified Muslim published in 2019 by Penguin Random House Canada.Sue Carter
"Samra Habib, founder of gay Muslim project, turns the camera on herself in new memoir"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', June 21, 2019. Born in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

to Ahmadi Muslim parents, Habib emigrated to Canada with their family in 1991 to escape religious persecution. They grew up primarily in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and were forced into an

arranged marriage Arranged marriage is a type of marital union where the bride and groom are primarily selected by individuals other than the couple themselves, particularly by family members such as the parents. In some cultures a professional matchmaker may be us ...

as a teenager before coming out as queer. ''We Have Always Been Here'' was the winner of the 2020 edition of ''

Canada Reads ''Canada Reads'' is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC. The program has aired in two distinct editions, the English-language ''Canada Reads'' on CBC Radio One, and the Frenc ...

'', in which it was defended by actress

Amanda Brugel Amanda Brugel (born March 24, 1978) is a Canadian actress. Born and raised in Pointe-Claire (a suburb of Montreal), Quebec, she made her acting debut in the drama film ''Vendetta'' (1999). This was followed by roles in the comedy film '' A Diva's ...

. It was also longlisted for the

RBC Taylor Prize The RBC Taylor Prize (2000–2020), formerly known as the Charles Taylor Prize, is a Canadian literary award, presented by the Charles Taylor Foundation to the best Canadian work of literary non-fiction. It is named for Charles P. B. Taylor, a ...

, and won a

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

for Lesbian Memoir or Biography at the 32nd Lambda Literary Awards.

References

21st-century Canadian photographers 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian women writers Canadian women photographers Pakistani emigrants to Canada Canadian Muslims Canadian memoirists Canadian LGBT artists Canadian LGBT writers LGBT Muslims Queer artists LGBT photographers Queer writers Pakistani LGBT people Muslim artists Muslim writers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century women photographers 21st-century memoirists Lambda Literary Award winners Canadian women memoirists Canadian Ahmadis {{Canada-writer-stub