Rabih Alameddine ( ar, ربيع علم الدين; born 1959) is a

Lebanese-American Lebanese Americans ( ar, أمريكيون لبنانيون) are Americans of Lebanese descent. This includes both those who are native to the United States of America, as well as immigrants from Lebanon. Lebanese Americans comprise 0.79% of the ...

painter and writer. His 2021 novel ''The Wrong End of the Telescope'' won the 2022

PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is awarded annually by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to the authors of the year's best works of fiction by living American citizens. The winner receives US$15,000 and each of four runners-up receives US$5000. Fi ...

Early life

Alameddine was born in Amman, Jordan to

Lebanese Druze Lebanese Druze ( ar, دروز لبنان, durūz lubnān) are Lebanese people who are Druze. The Druze faith is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion, and an ethnoreligious esoteric group originating from the Near East who self identify as unit ...

parents (Alameddine himself is an atheist). He grew up in Kuwait and Lebanon, which he left at age 17 to live first in England and then in California. He earned a degree in engineering from the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

(UCLA) and a Master of Business in San Francisco. Alameddine is gay.

Career

Alameddine began his career as an engineer, then moved to writing and painting. His debut novel ''Koolaids'', which touched on both the AIDS epidemic in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

and the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

, was published in 1998 by

Picador A ''picador'' (; pl. ''picadores'') is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the ''tercio de varas'', which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bullf ...

. The author of six novels and a collection of short stories, Alameddine was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002. He has lived in San Francisco and

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

and currently teaches at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

's creative writing program. In 2014, Alameddine was a finalist for the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".California Book Awards The Commonwealth Club of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States. Membership is open to everyone. Act ...

Gold Medal Fiction for '' An Unnecessary Woman''. Alameddine is best known for this novel, which tells the story of Aaliya, a Lebanese woman and translator living in war-torn

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. The novel "manifests traumatic signposts of the ebanesecivil war, which make it indelibly situational, and accordingly latches onto complex psychological issues." In 2017, Alameddine won the

Arab American Book Award The Arab American Book Award, established in 2006, is an annual literary award to celebrate and support the research of, and the written work of, Arab Americans and their culture. The Arab American Book Award encourages the publication and excelle ...

and the

Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction The Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a work of fiction on gay male themes. As the award is presented based on themes in the work, not the sexuality or gender of the ...

for ''The Angel of History.'' He was shortlisted for the 2021 Sunday Times Short Story Award for his story, "The July War". ''The Wrong End of the Telescope'' won the 2022

Works

* '' Koolaids: The Art of War'' (1998) * '' The Perv: Stories'' (1999) * '' I, the Divine: A Novel in First Chapters'' (2001) * '' The Hakawati'' (2008) * '' An Unnecessary Woman'' (2014) * '' The Angel of History: A Novel'' (2016) * ''The Wrong End of the Telescope'' (2021)

References

External links

*
Rabih Alameddine on Red Room
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alameddine, Rabih Lebanese emigrants to the United States 1959 births Living people Artists from Beirut Lebanese atheists UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Postmodern writers American Druze Writers from San Francisco Artists from San Francisco LGBT people from Lebanon Gay artists American gay writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American short story writers American LGBT novelists Jordanian artists Jordanian people of Lebanese descent Lebanese contemporary artists American male short story writers Prix Femina Étranger winners Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction winners 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers People from Amman Writers from Beirut