Ibtisam Barakat
Ibtisam Barakat is a Palestinian-American bi-lingual author, poet, artist, translator, and educator. She was born in Beit Hanina, near Jerusalem.
Barakat received her Bachelor's degree from Bir Zeit University, near Ramallah in the West Bank. In 1986, she moved to New York City, where she interned with The Nation magazine. She went on to earn one master's degree in Journalism and another master's degree in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Missouri.
2007: Her childhood memoir, , about growing up under Israeli occupation following the 1967 Six-Day War, was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux and won numerous awards and honors, including the International Reading Association's Best Non Fiction for YA, 2008, the Middle East Council Best Literature Book Award, 2007, and the 2008 Arab American Book Award in the Children/ Young Adult Category.
2011: Her book in Arabic, Al Ta' Al Marbouta Tateer, التاء المربوطة تطير THE LETTER TA ESCAPES, about a letter in the Arabic alphabet that refuses to do what it is supposed to do in a word, won the Anna Lindh Foundation award for Best Literature for Arabic children.
2014: Her book in Arabic, Hadeyyah Lel-Hamzah,هدية للهمزة A PRESENT FOR THE LETTER HAMZAH, which she wrote and illustrated, was published by The National Library of the United Arab Emirates - Abu Dhabi.
2016: Her memoir Balcony on the Moon, Coming of Age in Palestine was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux-Macmillan and won numerous honors.
2019: Her book The Jar that Became a Galaxy الجرة التي صارت مجرة was published by Tamer Institute in Ramallah, Palestine, and the book gave the national reading campaign in Palestine its title.
2020: Her book, The Lilac Girl, published by Tamer Institute, won the prestigious Sheikh Zayed Book Award.
