Etaf Rum

About

Etaf Rum is a Palestinian-American novelist born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, in a Palestinian family. Her experiences growing up between Palestinian cultural traditions and American society have shaped her exploration of women’s lives, cultural identity, and the struggle for independence within patriarchal communities. Before becoming a full-time writer, she studied English literature and worked as a professor. Her debut novel, A Woman Is No Man (2019), follows three generations of Palestinian-American women as they navigate arranged marriages, family expectations, domestic abuse, and the tension between tradition and personal freedom. Her second novel, Evil Eye (2023), examines motherhood, intergenerational trauma, and the psychological consequences of growing up in a restrictive environment. Rum’s fiction gives voice to women whose experiences are often silenced, exploring how cultural inheritance can provide both a sense of belonging and a source of constraint. Through emotionally direct storytelling, she examines the difficult process of breaking cycles of trauma and reclaiming one’s identity.