IN PROGRESS
If You Hear the Explosion, a novel, the story of Sha, a half-Lebanese, half-American 18 y.o. visiting Beirut for the first time in a decade because her father wants to remarry. Memory and future dreams merge with the existent as Sha finds out she is pregnant and struggles to approach love, sex, faith, and belonging at the junction of the personal and the political.
Genealogy of Hope, a book of memoir/historical research that explores the lives of Wiley Clayton Henson and Sheikh Ahmed Aref El-Zein—two of Amira’s noteworthy ancestors—alongside explorations of contemporary belonging, through issues like race and family-making.
IN PRINT
“Before the Bombs.” Personal Essay. The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human: Tales from Many Muslim Worlds. Ed. Marguerite Richards. Penguin SEA (2019).
“Bus Stop.” Short fiction. The Evil One. Ed. Andrew Blossom. Makeout Creek Books. (Spring 2016).
“New Year” and “Summer Vacation: Ghazieh, 1982.” Short fiction and poetry. Makeout Creek. (Issue 6: 2014).
“Lebanon in Two Hemispheres: Posts from a Post-Colonial World.” Short fiction. Asian American Literary Review. (Fall 2013); in collaboration w/Shannon O’Neill.
“Gun, Rainbow, Husband, Key.” Short fiction. Cream City Review. (Fall/Winter 2011): 173; Winner: A. David Schwartz Prize for Short Fiction, Cream City Review, judged by Benjamin Percy, 2011.
ON-LINE
“Corniche: along Sea and City, Beirut 2004.” Non-fiction. Broad Street. Posted: 15 Nov. 2015.
“Tourists.” Short Fiction. The Tusk. Posted: 11 Nov. 2015.
“Anything Good is a Secret.” Short fiction. Colorado Review. Posted: Fall 2014; Winner: The Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction, judged by Kent Nelson, 2014.
“The Model.” Short fiction. Miracle Monocle. Posted: Winter 2012; Winner: Best of the Issue.
Letters from Egypt: “Short, Cautionary Tales,” “Tourist Travails,” “Ramadan and Firecrackers.” Travel essays. The Morning News. Posted: 2004 and 2005.