Selma Dabbagh ( ar, سلمى الدباغ) (born 1970) is a British-Palestinian writer and lawyer. Her 2011 novel, ''Out of It'', inspired by the 2008 Gaza Air Strikes, was nominated for a ''Guardian'' Book of the Year award in 2011 and 2012.

Early life and education

Born in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, Dabbagh is the daughter of a Palestinian father from

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

and an English mother. She lived variously in Dundee,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...

and

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

during her early childhood before moving to

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

at eight years old. Dabbagh graduated from

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree and later earned an

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

from

SOAS SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

. Before concentrating on writing, she worked as a human rights lawyer in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, however was not able to stay in the occupied territory and moved to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

where she worked at

AMIDEAST Amideast (the America-Mideast Educational and Training Services) is a United States, U.S. non-profit organization that works to strengthen mutual understanding and cooperation between United States, Americans and the peoples of the MENA, Middle Ea ...

. She later moved to

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

, where she wrote her first novel.

Inspiration

Dabbagh is strongly influenced by

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 ...

, the greater

Palestinian diaspora The Palestinian diaspora ( ar, الشتات الفلسطيني, ''al-shatat al-filastini''), part of the wider Arab diaspora, are Palestinian people living outside the region of Palestine. History Palestinian individuals have a long history of ...

, and her legal work in

Human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

and

International criminal law International criminal law (ICL) is a body of public international law designed to prohibit certain categories of conduct commonly viewed as serious atrocities and to make perpetrators of such conduct criminally accountable for their perpetrati ...

. Following the COVID-19 lock-down in London, she described her motivations as "love and resistance."

Works

Since 2004, she has written short stories which have appeared in ''New Writing 15'' and ''Qissat: Short Stories by Palestinian Women''. She has twice been a finalist in the Fish Short Story Prize for ''Beirut-Paris-Beirut'' (2005) and ''Aubergine'' (2004). ''Out of It'', published in 2011, was Dabbagh's debut novel. She edited the anthology ''We Wrote in Symbols: Love and Lust by Arab Women Writers'', published by Saqi in 2021. In 2014, her radio play ''The Brick'' was broadcast by

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

References

1970 births Living people 20th-century Palestinian women writers 20th-century Palestinian writers 21st-century Palestinian women writers 21st-century Palestinian writers 21st-century British novelists 21st-century British women writers British dramatists and playwrights British women dramatists and playwrights Palestinian dramatists and playwrights Palestinian women dramatists and playwrights British women novelists Palestinian novelists Palestinian women novelists Palestinian women writers Writers from Dundee Alumni of SOAS University of London Alumni of Durham University {{Palestine-writer-stub