Yara Zgheib

Yara Zgheib is the author of the critically acclaimed The Girls at 17 Swann Street, which was a Barnes and Noble Pick of the Year and named a Pick by People, which hailed it as “an absorbing page-turner.” The New York Times Book Review praised the novel as “a singular celebration of the life saving power of community and small gestures." Zgheib’s new novel, No Land to Light On, was featured in The Washington Post, The L.A. Times, and Newsweek as one of the top books of 2022. In praise of No Land to Light On, Hala Alyan, author of Salt Houses calls it “a masterful story of tragedy and redemption, an entire history told through the prism of a single Syrian couple, beginning and ending with love." From Alki Joshi, bestselling author of TheHenna Artist, “Zgheib writes so lyrically about rootlessness, separation and a fierce longing for home.” Her new novel Why Paris and an essay collection, An Absolute Necessity are forthcoming from Harper Via.

Zgheib was a Fulbright scholar and holds a PhD in International Affairs in Diplomacy. She publishes a weekly essay on The non-Utilitarian, and her writing has appeared in The Huffington Post, Glimmer Train, The Four Seasons Magazine, HOLIDAY, The European, and elsewhere.