Celebrate Arab American Heritage Month 2026 with us by discussing one of these rich, layered books by Arab American and other Arab diaspora authors with your book club.
Read on for a curated recommended reading list books by authors of Arab descent to add to your book club reading list. If you have a Bookclubs account, add the books to your Books I Want to Read shelf or recommend them to one of your clubs. If you don’t have a Bookclubs account yet, it’s easy and free to get started here!
New books to read in 2026
These books by authors of Arab descent were published within the last year (in 2025 or 2026)
The True True Story of Raja the Gullible by Rabih Alameddine
A tragicomic love story set in Lebanon, The True Story of Raja the Gullible is a modern saga of family, memory, and the unbreakable attachment of a son and his mother that won the 2025 National Book Award.
The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
This engaging family saga and finalist for the 2026 PEN/Faulkner Award is narrated in six parts, each spanning a period ranging from a year to a day to a single minute. It follows the Mikkola sisters: Ina, Evelyn, and Anastasia whose mother is a Tunisian carpet seller and whose father is a mysterious Swede who left them when they were young.
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
From award-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad (What Strange Paradise) comes a powerful reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its fundamental values. This 2025 National Book Award winner is El Akkad’s nonfiction debut.
Paradiso 17 by Hannah Lillith Assadi
This intimate, sweeping tale of one Palestinian man’s restless search for home the world over, as the pendulum of fate swings between loss and life, grief and euphoria, regret and hope, has been long-listed for the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction.
My Friends by Hisham Matar
This National Book Critics Circle Award winner and National Book Award finalist is a devastating meditation on friendship and family, and the ways in which time tests—and frays—those bonds.
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
This new novel by the author of The Other Americans is set in a near future where even dreams are under surveillance. Eerie, urgent, and ceaselessly clear-eyed, The Dream Hotel artfully explores the seductive nature of technology, which puts us in shackles even as it makes our lives easier. Lalami asks how much of ourselves must remain private if we are to remain free, and whether even the most invasive forms of surveillance can ever capture who we really are.
More engaging books by authors of Arab descent
Dearborn by Ghassan Zeineddine
Spanning several decades, Ghassan Zeineddine's debut collection examines the diverse range and complexities of the Arab American community in Dearborn, Michigan. In ten tragicomic stories, Zeineddine explores themes of identity, generational conflicts, war trauma, migration, sexuality, queerness, home and belonging, and more.
The Arsonists' City by Hala Alyan
A rich family story, a personal look at the legacy of war in the Middle East, and an indelible rendering of how we hold on to the people and places we call home.
A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum
The New York Times bestseller telling the story of three generations of Palestinian-American women struggling to express their individual desires within the confines of their Arab culture in the wake of shocking intimate violence in their community.
The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah
A Palestinian American woman wrestles with faith, loss, and identity before coming face-to-face with a school shooter in this searing debut.
The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar
The author of the debut The Map of Salt and Stars returns with this remarkably moving and lyrical novel following three generations of Syrian Americans who are linked by a mysterious species of bird and the truths they carry close to their hearts.
Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H
A queer hijabi Muslim immigrant survives her coming-of-age by drawing strength and hope from stories in the Quran in this daring, provocative, and radically hopeful memoir.
Behind You Is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj
An exciting debut novel that gives voice to the diverse residents of a Palestinian American community in Baltimore—from young activists in conflict with their traditional parents to the poor who clean for the rich—lives which intersect across divides of class, generation, and religion.
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
After years away from her family's homeland, and reeling from a disastrous love affair, actress Sonia Nasir returns to Haifa to visit her older sister Haneen. At Haneen's, Sonia meets the charismatic and candid Mariam, a local director, and finds herself roped into a production of Hamlet in the West Bank. But as opening night draws closer, it becomes clear just how many violent obstacles stand before a troupe of Palestinian actors. Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction.
The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar
This powerful and lyrical debut novel recounts the story of two girls living eight hundred years apart—a modern-day Syrian refugee seeking safety and an adventurous mapmaker’s apprentice.
Looking for more book club book recs? Check out our reading lists of the most popular book club books and sign up for a free Bookclubs account to get our newsletter with the most popular and top trending books sent to your inbox every month.
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