Hala Alyan

{{Infobox person

| name = Hala Alyan

| image = Hala Alyan (160322.0057).jpg

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1986|7|27}}

| birth_place = Carbondale, Illinois, U.S.

| occupation = {{flatlist|

}}

| nationality = Palestinian-American

| alma_mater = Rutgers University

| website = {{URL|https://www.halaalyan.com}}

| awards = 2013 - Arab American Book Award

2018 - Dayton Literary Peace Prize

}}

Hala Alyan (born July 27, 1986) is a Palestinian-American writer, poet, and clinical psychologist who specializes in trauma, addiction, and cross-cultural behavior. Her writing covers aspects of identity and the effects of displacement, particularly within the Palestinian diaspora. She is also known for acting in the short films I Say Dust and Tallahassee (directed by Darine Hotait).{{Cite web|url=https://egyptianstreets.com/2021/10/17/tallahassee-tackles-mental-health-stigma-in-arab-american-communities/|title='Tallahassee' Tackles Mental Health Stigma in Arab-American Communities|website=egyptianstreets.com|first=Amina|last=Zaineldine|date=October 17, 2021|access-date=2021-11-22}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.newfilmmakersonline.com/movie-download/148323,8016/darine-hotait-I-Say-Dust-|title=I Say Dust|website=newfilmmakersonline.com|access-date=2021-11-22}}

Biography

Hala Alyan was born in Carbondale, Illinois, on July 27, 1986. Her family lived in Kuwait after her birth but sought political asylum in the United States when Iraqi forces invaded the country.{{Cite web|url=https://northofboston.wickedlocal.com/news/20190628/ink-knows-no-borders-tells-story-of-immigrant-and-refugee-experience-through-poetry|title='Ink Knows No Borders' tells story of immigrant and refugee experience through poetry|first=Claire|last=Keyes|website=North of Boston|access-date=July 11, 2019|archive-date=July 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190711162805/https://northofboston.wickedlocal.com/news/20190628/ink-knows-no-borders-tells-story-of-immigrant-and-refugee-experience-through-poetry|url-status=dead}}

She received her doctorate in clinical psychology at Rutgers University and is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Applied Psychology at New York University.{{Cite web |title=Hala Nafez Alyan {{!}} NYU Steinhardt |url=https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/people/hala-nafez-alyan |access-date=2024-03-03 |website=steinhardt.nyu.edu |language=en}} She and her husband live in Brooklyn, New York.{{cite news

| last = Masad | first = Ilana

| date = 3 May 2017 | title = Middle East, Middle Class: Pain and Privilege in Hala Alyan's 'Salt Houses' | url = https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/middle-east-middle-class-pain-and-privilege-in-halma-alyans-salt-houses/#!

| location = Los Angeles | access-date = 3 November 2018

}}

Awards and works

Alyan's poems have been published in various journals and literary magazines including The New Yorker, the Academy of American Poets, Guernica, Jewish Currents among others.{{cite magazine|last=Alyan|first=Hala|date=1 December 2014|title=Meals|url=https://www.missourireview.com/hala-alyan-meals/|magazine=Missouri Review|location=University of Missouri|access-date=3 November 2018}}{{cite journal|last1=LaBerge|first1=Peter|last2=Biggs|first2=Garrett|date=August 2017|title=CAN I APOLOGIZE NOW|url=http://www.theadroitjournal.org/issue-twenty-two-hala-alyan-the-adroit-journal|journal=The Adroit Journal|issue=22|access-date=3 November 2018}}{{Primary source inline|date=March 2024}}{{cite web|last=Magazine|first=Poetry|date=4 March 2019|title=Honeymoon by Hala Alyan|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/142866/honeymoon-|website=Poetry Foundation}}{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/963672141|title=Being Palestinian : personal reflections on Palestinian identity in the diaspora|date=2016|others=Yasir Suleiman|isbn=978-0-7486-3403-3|location=Edinburgh|pages=63|oclc=963672141}}

In her first novel, Salt Houses, the Yacoub family is forced to leave their home in Nablus, Palestine in the wake of the Six-Day War of 1967. They move to Kuwait City and reluctantly try and rebuild their life. But when Sadam Hussein invades Kuwait in 1990, the family again lose their home, their land and their story, scattering to Beirut, Paris, Boston and beyond.{{Cite web |title=Salt Houses |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30971664-salt-houses |access-date=2024-03-03 |website=Goodreads |language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Code Switch Book Club, Summer 2019|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/06/20/733808217/code-switch-book-club-summer-2019|website=NPR.org}}

In 2013, Alyan's poetry collection, Atrium, received an award from the Arab American National Museum.{{cite web

|url= http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org/2013.book.award.winners#book3

|title= 2013 Arab American Book Award Winners

|website= Arab American National Museum

|access-date= 3 November 2018

|archive-date= November 3, 2018

|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181103210139/http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org/2013.book.award.winners#book3

|url-status= dead

}}{{cite web|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/hala-alyan|title=Hala Alyan|first=Poetry|last=Foundation|date=3 March 2019|website=Poetry Foundation}} In 2018, she won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, an award given to writers whose writing is believed to promote peace.{{cite web|last=Hemley|first=Robin|title=2018 Fiction Winner - Salt Houses|url=http://daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/2018-fiction_winner.htm|access-date=3 November 2018|website=Dayton Literary Peace Prize|publisher=The Ohio Public Library Network}}{{Cite web|date=September 19, 2018|title=Hala Alyan, Ta-Nehisi Coates win Dayton Literary Peace Prize|url=https://apnews.com/58d0c4c0739b4d4282a6ed76f72077f7|website=AP NEWS}} She was also a visiting fellow at the American Library in Paris in the fall of 2018.

Her second novel, The Arsonists' City, was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on March 9, 2021{{cite web

|url= https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/The-Arsonists-City/9780358125099

|title= The Arsonists' City

|publisher= Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

|access-date=20 March 2021}} to critical acclaim.{{Cite web|title=Fiction Book Review: The Arsonists' City by Hala Alyan. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26 (464p) ISBN 978-0-358-12655-3|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-358-12655-3|access-date=2021-10-16|website=PublishersWeekly.com|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=Salam|first=Maya|date=2021-03-09|title=A Family Reunites in Beirut, Where the Past Is Never Past|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/09/books/review/hala-alyan-arsonists-city.html|access-date=2021-10-16|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/hala-alyan/the-arsonists-city/|title=THE ARSONISTS' CITY {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|language=en}} The novel is about the Nasr family, which reunites in Beirut to discuss the family patriarch's will, revealing family secrets and the impact of war and violence on the family.{{Cite web|date=2021-02-06|title=The Arsonists' City|url=https://www.bookpage.com/reviews/25980-hala-alyan-arsonists-city-fiction/|access-date=2021-10-16|website=BookPage {{!}} Discover your next great book!|language=en-US}}

Bibliography

= Novels =

Salt Houses (2017)
The Arsonists' City (2021)

= Poetry =

;Collections

Atrium (2005)
Four Cities (2015)
Hijra (2016)
The Twenty-Ninth Year (2019)
The Moon That Turns You Back (2024)

;Anthologies

We Call to the Eye & the Night: Love Poems by Writers of Arab Heritage (2023) edited by Hala Alyan & Zeina Hashem Beck

= Essays =

"'I am not there and I am not here': a Palestinian American poet on bearing witness to atrocity" in The Guardian (January 28, 2024){{Cite news |last=Alyan |first=Hala |date=2024-01-28 |title='I am not there and I am not here': a Palestinian American poet on bearing witness to atrocity |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/28/gaza-palestine-grief-essay-poetry |access-date=2024-03-03 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
"The Power of Changing Your Mind" in TIME (January 17, 2024){{Cite magazine |date=2024-01-17 |title=The Power of Changing Your Mind |url=https://time.com/6556113/curiosity-propaganda-hala-alyan-essay/ |access-date=2024-03-03 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}
"What a Palestinian-American Wants You To Know about Dehumanization" in Teen Vogue (December 20, 2023){{Cite web |date=2023-12-20 |title=What a Palestinian-American Wants You To Know About Dehumanization |url=https://www.teenvogue.com/story/palestinian-american-propaganda |access-date=2024-03-03 |website=Teen Vogue |language=en-US}}
If Palestinian Freedom Makes You Uneasy, Ask Yourself Why" in The New York Times (November 1, 2023){{Cite news |last1=Alyan |first1=Hala |last2=Darbha |first2=Vishakha |date=2023-11-01 |title=Opinion {{!}} If Palestinian Freedom Makes You Uneasy, Ask Yourself Why |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/01/opinion/palestine-freedom-israel.html |access-date=2024-03-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
"The Palestine Double Standard" in The New York Times (October 25, 2023){{Cite news |last=Alyan |first=Hala |date=2023-10-25 |title=Opinion {{!}} The Palestine Double Standard |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/25/opinion/palestine-war-empathy.html |access-date=2024-03-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
A Letter to My Husband" in Emergency Magazine (January 21, 2019){{Cite web |date=2019-01-21 |title=A Letter to my Husband – Hala Alyan |url=https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/a-letter-to-my-husband/ |access-date=2024-03-03 |website=Emergence Magazine |language=en-US}}
"In Dust," essay appearing in Being Palestinian: Personal Reflections on Palestinian Identity in the Diaspora, edited by Yasir Suleiman (2016)