Earlier this year I submitted an application for a place in Allen & Unwin's Faber Writing Academy 'Writing a Novel Stage 1' and have now been accepted due to start in March 2021 - https://faberwritingacademy.com.au/course/writing-a-novel-stage-1-4/. This course is taught by two award winning authors (Sophie Cunningham and Emily Bitto) whose guidance will prove inaluable. This opportunity will allow me to continue working on my first novel under their guidance and in an environment of peers with the same goal. Below is my personal statement submitted with my application to the Academy which gives an overview of what I have been and will continue to work on:

As a Jordanian-Iranian-Australian woman I have always been curious about the stories of the women around me and how they have shaped me. Our stories are multi-faceted and are rooted in various cultural, religious, and mental realities. My aim is to expose the truest experiences of myself and the women around me in order to shatter preconceptions and challenge the reader about how they may have considered Middle Eastern women before. The time to do this is now – we are in a moment of history where people are listening to these experiences, and the more that is shared, the better our societies will be for it.

The novel I am working on is set across two countries – Jordan and Australia and follows the story of sisters Amal and Amina, and Amal’s twin daughters Samira and Soraya. What this novel is really about is an exploration of who I would be if I had stayed and grown up in Jordan as opposed to growing up in diaspora Australia. I explore themes of family, shame, trauma, mental health, migration, and fertility. I have written 18,000 words and the guidance that this Course will provide will propel and refine the work in a way that I won’t be able to do on my own.

I think more than ever Australian readers are willing and want to hear different voices - voices of people pushed aside but have something important to say - something that can influence how our societies are shaped and how people treat each other. This is at the heart of diverse literature - to understand, so that one can do better. I have been writing for most of my life but have never had the courage to put my work out there until recently. Now is the time to refine my voice and share my stories and the stories of the women in my life through this work of fiction. The Faber Writing Academy  will provide me with the mentorship, discipline and the space to create that my work needs. Learning from and having the support of  instructors will prove invaluable as I have always worked alone. It is time for me to share these stories as they need to be heard, so having the opportunity to work on this with support will ensure that my voice and the voices of the migrant women that I have been fortunate to know are not lost

The 'Writing a Novel Stage 1' course fee is $3250. All donations will go towards this fee.