Rum lives in Rocky Mount, North Carolina with her children. Rum is working on a second book which she hopes to release in 2021. She realized that literature on the Arab American experience from a female perspective hardly existed and needed to be told. While teaching literature at a local community college, the idea of a novel first occurred to her. I maintained my education despite the pressures around me to stay home and take care of my kids, and slowly, as I educated myself… I began to realize my place in the community and the cycle of trauma and oppression that I be giving my daughter-if I don't speak up for what I want to accomplish with my life, if I don't stand up for myself. Rejecting that dictum, Rum pursued her education. You can't do this because you're not a man.' Frustrated by the restrictions on her life and wondering why she could not pursue the kinds of things a man could, her grandmother told her, 'Because.

Work Įchoes of Rum's experience can be found in her debut novel, A Woman is No Man released in 2019. in American and British Literature and Philosophy. in English Language and Literature, a B.S. While raising her children, Rum enrolled in North Carolina State University, where she earned a B.A. She then moved to North Carolina where, at the age of 19, she gave birth to her daughter and son two years later.

Rum was raised in a traditional family and entered into an arranged marriage at a young age. Her parents grew up in refugee camps in Palestine before immigrating to the United States, and her grandparents also lived out their lives in refugee camps in Palestine. Early life and education Įtaf Rum was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City to Palestinian parents. Her debut novel is A Woman is No Man (2019). North Carolina State University, B.A., B.S., M.A.Įtaf Rum is a Palestinian American novelist.

Novel a woman is no man