Nada Faris

Nada Faris is a Kuwaiti writer, creative writing teacher, and literary translator. In 2018, she received an Arab Woman Award from Harper’s Bazaar Arabia in the category of Inspirational Woman for her impact on Kuwait’s creative landscape . She is n Honorary Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program (IWP), having participated in the Fall 2013 residency . Additionally, she is an alumna of the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), having taken part in the April 2018 program titled "Empowering Youth Through the Performing Arts" .
Faris holds an MFA in Creative Writing, with a concentration in poetry and literary translation, from Columbia University, which she completed in 2020 . She is the author of several books across different genres, including Mischief Diary (HBKU Press, 2018), a collection of humorous short stories, and Fountain of Youth, which was a semi-finalist in the 2016 Vine Leaves Vignette Collection Award . Her collaboration with photographer Maha Alasaker resulted in Women of Kuwait (Daylight, 2019), a work that was recognized as a finalist for the Lucie Photobook Award.
Faris's shorter works have appeared in various publications, including The Norton Anthology of Hint Fiction, Gulf Coast Journal, Indianapolis Review, Nimrod, Tribes, One Jacar, The American Journal of Poetry, and more.
Her debut literary translation, Lost in Mecca (DarArab, 2024), is the English rendition of Bothayna Al-Essa's Arabic novel خرائط التيه. This translation was shortlisted for the 2024 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation and was named a Notable Translation by World Literature Today.