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2023 Arab American Book Awards

April is National Arab American Heritage Month. If you’re looking for something good to read this month, check out last year’s winners of the Arab American Book Awards!

The stardust thief

The stardust thief

by Chelsea Abdullah
 
2023 Arab American Book Award Winners for Fiction
 
A hunter and seller of illegal magic, Loulie al-Nazari, after saving the life of a cowardly prince, is blackmailed into finding an ancient lamp, drawing her into a world where nothing is what it seems and where she must decide who she will become in this new reality.
If an Egyptian cannot speak English : a novel

If an Egyptian cannot speak English : a novel

by Noor Naga
 
2023 Arab American Book Award Winners for Fiction
 
An Egyptian American woman visiting her parents' homeland begins a dark romance with an unemployed photographer who is addicted to cocaine and living in a rooftop shack in Cairo in a novel about identity politics. 
Muslims of the heartland : how Syrian immigrants made a home in the American Midwest

Muslims of the heartland : how Syrian immigrants made a home in the American Midwest

by Edward E. Curtis

2023 Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award
 
This book rejects the stereotype of the Midwest as bleached-out Christian country. It unearths a surprising and intimate history of the first two generations of Syrian Muslims in the Midwest who, in spite of discrimination, created a life that was Arab, American, and Muslim all at the same time.
Broken : the failed promise of Muslim inclusion

Broken : the failed promise of Muslim inclusion

by Evelyn Alsultany
 
2023 Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award Runner Up
 
Examines how different institutions--Hollywood, universities, corporations, and law enforcement--have sought to be inclusive of Muslims in an era of rampant Islamophobia.
Learning America : one woman's fight for educational justice for refugee children

Learning America : one woman's fight for educational justice for refugee children

by Luma Mufleh
 
2023 Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award Runner Up
 
In this moving and insightful book, a visionary leader and gifted refugee activist shows how she grew a soccer team into a nationally acclaimed network of schools by homing in on what traumatized students need to learn and making the school for those most in need. 
Ida in the middle

Ida in the middle

by Nora Lester Murad
 
2023 Arab American Book Award Winner for Young Adult Literature
 
Ida, a Palestinian-American girl, eats a magic olive that takes her to the life she might have had in her parents' village near Jerusalem
The turtle of Michigan

The turtle of Michigan

by Naomi Shihab Nye

2023 Arab American Book Award Runner Up for Young Adult Literature
 
In this highly anticipated stand-alone companion to The Turtle of Oman, Aref travels from Muscat, Oman, to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he is reunited with his father and tries to adjust to his new life. 
Arab Arab all year long!

Arab Arab all year long!

by Cathy Camper

2023 Arab American Book Award Winner for  Children's Literature
 
Accompanied by lively illustrations, this picture book celebrates the beauty and diversity of Arab life and childhood enthusiasm throughout the entire year as busy kids take part in traditions old and new. Illustrations.
Mama in Congress : Rashida Tlaib's journey to Washington

Mama in Congress : Rashida Tlaib's journey to Washington

by Rashida Tlaib

2023 Arab American Book Award Runner Up for Children's Literature
 
When Yousif Tlaib asks about his mom's new job in Congress, his older brother, Adam, fills him in--with some help from Rashida Tlaib herself. As he tells his mom's story, Adam reveals information about how elections and our government work, what it means to break barriers, what motivates their mama to work for justice for all, and how love and family have guided them through this historic time in our country.