World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Evelyn Shakir

エヴリン・シャキール

Evelyn Shakir

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1938-01-01 (West Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.)
Died
2010-01-01 (West Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.) age 71
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Boston (birthplace, childhood) → Waltham (taught at Bentley University) → Bahrain (Fulbright teaching) → Damascus (teaching)

Career

Occupations
Academic, Author, Scholar
Active Years
1960-2010
Affiliations
Bentley University (professor, professor emerita), Northeastern University (taught), Tufts University (taught), University of Bahrain (Fulbright), University of Damascus (taught)

Education

Girls' Latin School (now Boston Latin Academy)
Period: 在学期間不詳
Year of Graduation: 1956
Country: United States
Graduated high school in 1956
Wellesley College
English / English
Period: 在学期間不詳
Country: United States
Bachelor's degree (year not specified)
Harvard University
Period: 在学期間不詳
Country: United States
Master's degree (year not specified)
Boston University
Period: 在学期間不詳
Country: United States
Doctorate (year not specified)

Awards

Arab American National Book Award (Nonfiction)
2007
Work: Remember Me To Lebanon: Stories of Lebanese Women in America
Category: ノンフィクション/短篇集
Organization: Arab American National Museum / Arab American Book Award committee
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Bint Arab: Arab and Arab American Women in the United States

1997 Nonfiction, oral history

Collects interviews with Arab American women alongside family histories to examine assimilation and identity formation among immigrant-descended generations.

ImmigrationWomen's historyIdentityAssimilation

Remember Me To Lebanon: Stories of Lebanese Women in America

2007 Short story collection

A collection of stories spanning from the 1960s to the present focusing on Lebanese American women negotiating generational and cultural tensions; includes pieces with political backdrops and responses to 9/11.

Intergenerational conflictCultural identityImmigrant memoryWomen's perspectives

Teaching Arabs, Writing Self: Memoirs of an Arab-American Woman

2013 Memoir

Posthumously published memoir collecting essays that reflect on her roles as an educator and as an Arab American woman.

EducationSelf-writingEthnicityWomen's experiences

Bibliography

  • Bint Arab: Arab and Arab American Women in the United States (1997)
  • Remember Me To Lebanon: Stories of Lebanese Women in America (2007)
  • Teaching Arabs, Writing Self: Memoirs of an Arab-American Woman (2013, posthumous)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Combines scholarly analysis with literary narrationOral-history techniques and reflective essays
Recurring Motifs
Family memoryImmigrant experienceIntergenerational tensionWomen's voices

Legacy

Remembered as a pioneer in Arab American literary studies. Her short story collection won the Arab American National Book Award and the award's nonfiction prize was later renamed in her honor. She is commemorated on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail.

Quotes

  • Writing about other Arab-American women was the easy part; writing about my own experience took longer and was harder.
    Source: Evelyn Shakir (quoted in Wikipedia)

Trivia

  • Remember Me To Lebanon won the Arab American National Book Award in 2007.
  • The Arab American Book Award nonfiction prize was renamed in her honor.
  • She was a Fulbright scholar and taught in Bahrain and Damascus.
  • She is listed on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail.