Saleem Yacoub Saleem Haddad (Arabic: سليم حداد; born 1983) is an author, filmmaker and aid worker of Iraqi-German and Palestinian-Lebanese descent, whose debut novel Guapa was published in 2016.[1]
Saleem Haddad was born in Kuwait City in 1983 to a Lebanese-Palestinian father and an Iraqi-German mother.[2] His Palestinian Christian grandmother was born in Nazareth and lived in Haifa before being displaced to Beirut during the Nakba. His parents met in Baghdad during the Lebanese Civil War, and moved to Kuwait during the Iran–Iraq War. After Haddad's birth, during the Gulf War, the family moved again to Cyprus.[3] Haddad was subsequently raised and educated in Amman and London.[2] He studied economics at a university in Canada.[3]
Haddad's debut novel Guapa was released in March 2016 by Other Press.[4] The book, set over 24 hours, tells the story of Rasa, a gay man living in an unnamed Arab country, and trying to carve out a life for himself in the midst of political and religious upheaval.[4]
The novel was excerpted by VICE, and received widespread acclaim, with The New Yorker calling it a "vibrant, wrenching début novel".[5] According to Book Riot, "Haddad maps postcolonial theory, post-revolutionary malaise, and post-outing upheaval onto your standard post-college, what-am-I-doing-with-my-life aimlessness, creating something wonderful and fascinating in the process."[6]
As part of the London Literature Festival, Haddad was awarded the Polari First Book Prize 2017. The prize is awarded annually to a writer whose first book explores the LGBT experience, whether in poetry, prose, fiction or non-fiction.[7]
Haddad's work has also appeared in Slate and Muftah. He has also worked as an aid worker with Doctors Without Borders and other organizations in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq.[8] He currently lives in Lisbon with his partner.[8]
^Joe Donahue (23 August 2016). "Guapa By Saleem Haddad". WAMC Northeast Public Radio (Podcast). WAMC. Event occurs at 10:10. Archived from the original on 28 March 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
