Crescent – a novel
Sirine, the heroine of this "deliciously romantic romp" (Vanity Fair) is thirty-nine, never married, and living in the Arab-American community of Los Angeles. She has a passion for cooking and works contentedly in a Lebanese restaurant, while her storytelling uncle and her saucy boss, Umm Nadia, believe she should be trying harder to find a husband. One day Hanif, a handsome professor of Arabic literature, an Iraqi exile, comes to the restaurant. Sirine falls in love and finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew about Hanif, as well as her own torn identity as an Arab-American.
About Diana Abu-Jaber (Portland, Oregon Author)
Diana Abu-Jaber (Arabic: ديانا أبو جابر) is an American author and a professor at Portland State University. She was born in Syracuse, New York. Her father was Jordanian and her mother was American, descended from Irish and German roots.
At the age of seven she moved with her family for two years to Jordan. She currently divides her time between Fort Lauderdale and Portland and teaches at Portland State University. She often writes about issues of identity and culture.
