Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸 @AlaaBarkawi Twitter profile | Pikagi

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Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

@AlaaBarkawi

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Author of IN THE COUNTRY I LOVE @PeachtreeTeen (Summer 2026) ✨Co-founder of @SwanaPitch ✨ Shia Muslim ✨Iraqi 🇮🇶 Rep: @jenissamichelle at Bookends Literary

https://t.co/VEMFhid8Bg

Joined October 2019

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

4 months

My debut novel, IN THE COUNTRY I LOVE, is coming to Peachtree Teen! The first YA Iraqi Shia book to hit the shelves ❤️ This book is for the kids who struggle with their faith & those who are desperate to cling on to it. And to the refugees trying to find home—wherever it may be

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

10 months

Stop normalizing the mass killing of Arabs. It wasn't normal in Iraq nor Syria. It has never been normal for Palestine, but this notion is so normalized in the West that they think what's happening in Gaza is normal. "That's just the Middle East" they shrug. No. It's NOT.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

If you all love Dune so much please think about supporting Muslim/SWANA SFF writers and stories instead, writers who are writing about their own cultures/regions/faith and not through an orientalist white lens. Stop reading stories "inspired" by us, just read books BY us.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 years

✨IT'S HAPPENING✨ I'm so thrilled to announce that I am being represented by the wonderful @jenissamichelle at @bookendslit ! I adore Jenissa’s vision for my very Iraqi, very Shia novel about a teen father & his golden boy best friend as they navigate family, faith, & identity!

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

10 months

the amount of times I've heard people say well the Middle East is just destructive..as if our people are inherently meant to die due to imperialism is exactly why we're all witnessing a genocide happen on social media and why our leaders SHRUG it off

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Just queried a few agents. Going to crawl in a hole now. 👋

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

everyone swooning over detective hottie in squid game just know that he is also super hot in Romance is A Bonus Book and if you haven't watched that show that is literally about publishing/books/childhood best friends to lovers, you must

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

1 year

@EmilyKaitlinnn EMILY DO NOT LET HIM GO. I AM WAITING IN ANTICIPATION. I AM ALREADY PICKING OUT MY OUTFIT TO WEAR TO YOUR WEDDING.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 months

As excited as I am for the new hunger games (literally frothing at the mouth) it’s not lost on me that Suzanne Collins wrote it inspired by the US invasion of Iraq & that all her books mirror real pain of real ppl that when real ppl tell those stories you should maybe care too

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Raise your hand if you’re a writer of color who grew up exclusively writing white characters because you couldn’t possibly see yourself or people like you in stories? Raise your hand, if now, all you do, is write about characters who reflect your life/world? 🥺

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Maybe she’s born with it? Maybe she’s ✨Permanently Burned Out™️✨

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

4 months

The dehumanization was always out in the open. People just never paid attention.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

If only white book twitter gave even 1/4 energy about Palestine that they did to S&B only weeks ago. Do yall just like fictional stories of oppression? The real thing doesn’t seem to bother you...Palestine liberation is actually reliant on social media + boycott + US policy.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 years

Just got into one of the top Masters in Communications programs in the country 😭 and during Ramadan, alhamdulillah 💕

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Just a reminder that SWANA people make up less than 1 percent of the publishing industry as a whole, but it’s okay because Timothy Champagne is going to save us in the next Dune adaption.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

4 months

✨It’s Publisher’s Marketplace official! ✨ I always say when you give an author of color a chance, you allow their entire community to be on the shelf. I'm excited for you to meet my community. My messy Muslim boys, Yassir and Khaled, Kawther, and a secret POV (more soon!)

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Give me the complete energy of one your characters by sharing one line from your WIP. I’ll go first

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 years

Estimates of Iraqi civilians killed by the US invasion are in the 200,000s. But go on little Netflix film, make your military propaganda jokes.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 months

do you ever think about what kind of books we could have if BIPOC authors didn't self-censor or be told to censor? do you ever think about what it would be like if we were marketed with the same $ and investment as white authors so we didn't have the need to censor at all? 🥲

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

I see this happen a lot with Muslim authors. There's an expectation that we should represent the whole community and I see that judgment mostly with fellow Muslims. I personally don't write to educate Islamophobes on why Muslims should be humanized. I write for people like me.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

10 months

Please promise yourself to not look away from Palestine, days, weeks, months from now. As a kid, I used to not understand why my parents always watched the dead and devastation on TV during the US's occupation of Iraq. But now I understand. Looking away is not an option.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 months

Hi #WritingCommunity , I'm Alaa! I'm Iraqi-American, I turn 29 this week, and I mentor refugee college students for my day job. My novels center around messy Iraqi characters, Shia faith, with some unexpected sentient narrators👀🌞. My debut comes out with @peachtreeteen in 2026!

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

9 months

Publishing industry, I really cannot reiterate enough how important it is to center SWANA stories by SWANA voices. We are so tired of the dehumanization due to "it's complicated" narrative. Every SWANA writer I know is working so hard to expose truths about our histories & yet...

@DrKarimWafa

Karim Wafa-Al Hussaini

9 months

“the Middle East has always been complicated” no it hasn’t. saying this completely disregards the role of western imperialism in shaping our region and in funding most of the political instability that has plagued our part of the world from the dawn of the colonial age.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

5 months

Saw a super depressing publishing statistic so I will share it here 🤠 Books ABOUT Arabs made up 0.7% of children's books Books with a primary Arab character or subject made 0.6% of kid lit Dune has made 100s of millions of dollars. Tell me you want Arab stories without Arabs

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 years

@EmilyKaitlinnn His loss, I would’ve knitted mittens for Megatron.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

CW: Extreme Violence It's been 18 years since the US govt destroyed my family's homeland. We are not even close to recognizing the devastation (that was so intentional and calculated). Even though I write about my Iraqi-identity a lot, I don't have a lot of words to say today

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Fellow babes who didn’t get into #pitchwars : feel those feelings, eat that ice cream, cry those rejection tears, and after? We keep going. If you feel like you’re barely hanging on a thread with your writing career (like me) know that my DMs are open. Let’s stay encouraged ♥️

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Manifesting: 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️ Reese reading 🕯️ my book one day 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

#pitlight A woman outwits traditional rules with a fake marriage but sets off a curse instead has: 💍enemies to friends to lovers 🧔🏽‍♂️ with very chiseled chin 🌪there's only one kitchen pantry during the cursed tornado 🔪 maybe he’s a serial killer, maybe he’s my roommate

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Querying is hard on the soul. But I keep thinking about recent feedback I got from an Iraqi-American reader who said she never related to a story more than she had when reading mine. Can't forget who we write for and why that matters more than anything. ♥️

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 months

For editors! #questpit #a #agented FATED IDIOTS TO LOVERS Amirah's fake marriage resets a 10yr curse. To break it she must deal with: 🧔🏽‍♂️ & his very chiseled chin 🔪who might be a serial killer ☕️ Iraqi fortune-telling aunties & only one kitchen pantry during the cursed 🌪️

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

5 months

Presenting my most chaotic WIP to date for #pitlight ARAB NEW GIRL X LOVE IN THE TIME OF SERIAL KILLERS A fortune teller accidentally predicts her own death. Her killer? One of three hot guys that just moved next door. Now she must uncover her murderer before time runs out.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

9 months

I understand what happened on good reads was awful and everyone has spoken their piece. But can you all take that tweeting energy and speak for Palestine?? So many of you have been quiet on this app until now. There’s a literal genocide happening. Stay focused.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

10 months

I'm not Palestinian. I'm Iraqi. Iraqis paid the price for 9/11 after the US lied about WMD. The US military + allies killed 1 million Iraqis & the world let it happen. I advocate for Palestine because I can't stand by as history is repeated. In that way, I'm also Palestinian.

@DrRupaMarya

Rupa Marya, MD

10 months

I’m not Palestinian. I’m Punjabi. But my ancestors survived European invasion of my homeland. They killed 100,000,000 of my people through colonial policies. And so I advocate for Palestine because I can’t stand by as history is repeated. In that way, I’m also Palestinian. 🙏🏾

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

10 months

No Western journalist has had to go through what these journalists in Gaza are going through. Majority of Western journalists are reporting false information about Palestine which then leads to the killing of these journalists and their entire families.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

I just finished writing Draft 1 of this WIP 🥳 it IS a mess and I WILL be revising the hell out of it, but I'm honestly proud that I finished this book in 3.5 months when it took me 4 years just to finish draft 1 of my first novel earlier this year. That's GROWTH 🥳.

@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Back to writing my Murder Mystery WIP! In honor of #pitlight I wanted to share what this book has in store: 👀 Unhinged Cousins 💍 Falling for your childhood crush despite being engaged to someone else (typical) 🌧 Exploring Grief 🚘 Car Ride Sing Alongs 🕶 Undercover Schemes

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 years

Missed #wiplift yesterday 🥲 but I wanted to share I'm currently rewriting my Murder Cousins WIP, my Sadie X Knives Out Iraqi-Style YA novel

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

9 months

Writing books filled with Arab boys who are goofy, angry, hopeful, and loving with Arab girls who are fierce, funny, annoying, and flawed etc. etc. etc. because that's just who we are but somehow in this current wave of anti-Arab sentiment this is basically a radical act.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 months

Editors! #questpit #ag #adult A skilled fortune teller accidentally predicts her own death. Her killer? One of three hot guys that just moved next door. As women in town wind up dead, she must uncover which of the men might be the killer, if she doesn't fall for him first.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Back to writing my Murder Mystery WIP! In honor of #pitlight I wanted to share what this book has in store: 👀 Unhinged Cousins 💍 Falling for your childhood crush despite being engaged to someone else (typical) 🌧 Exploring Grief 🚘 Car Ride Sing Alongs 🕶 Undercover Schemes

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

4 months

IT'S ME 🥺🫶🏽

@PWKidsBookshelf

Children's Bookshelf

@PWKidsBookshelf

4 months

Announcing new deals for @thesophclark , @AlaaBarkawi , @KelsiJoSilva , @znayberg + more

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

4 months

Anyone else feeling kind of vague? 😏

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Maybe irrational, but when you write a book that's incredibly personal to your identity and it gets rejected, it sometimes feels like your identity is being rejected. Will stories with people like me ever make it to the page? I know I'm not the first BIPOC author to feel this.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

9 months

All writers should be mourning the death of a fellow writer who was targeted & murdered with his family in Gaza by Israel Occupation Forces. Professor Refaat Al-Areer. Remember his name. Then, you all need to STOP doing business with Israel. Hold your friends accountable, too.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

9 months

If an editor would like a book featuring an all Arab cast with 💫 chaotic siblings & cousins 💫 who are trying to solve a murder 💫 while harboring an absurd amount of cash 💫 and have only six days to do it 💫 during the opioid & housing crisis of 2008 Please let my agent know

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@akatepockett

kate is querying | 🍉

9 months

do u think agents stalk unagented authors’ profiles if they like their work

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Eid Mubarak to all my lovelies, especially those fighting oppression, displacement, and violence ❤️ My heart is with you.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 years

*sends query* *whispers bismillah*

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

10 months

So when is publishing actually going to divest from Israel? You can’t talk about “diverse” books while making business deals with an apartheid genocidal state (which has been said for years). No more translation deals. No more normalization of business. Authors need to push back

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 years

I have so many white books I wrote years ago. Then one day I was like oh, I guess I could make them Iraqi??? BIPOC writers literally have to discover that writing our own identity is okay. It can take YEARS to realize. A professor had to tell me it was okay 🥲

@camiscribbles

cam(ille chong)! 🐍 🇵🇸 瑷薇

2 years

thinking about how i'll never be able to publish my old work because they all feature white people since i didn't know you could just. not write white people LMFAO

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 years

AND THAT CONCLUDES THE FIRST EVER #SWANApit I am SERIOUSLY blown away by all the incredible pitches today! Thank you for trusting us! Thank you for supporting SWANA writers! Agents and editors THANK you for giving SWANA voices the attention they deserve!

@SwanaPitch

#SWANApit

2 years

And that's a wrap! THANK YOU ALL FOR PARTICIPATING IN THE FIRST EVER #SWANApit ! We were BLOWN AWAY by all the incredible pitches & support! Massive thank you to our SWANA community for trusting us! Thank you to the agents and editors for showing up and supporting this event!

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Jumping on this! Hi! I’m Alaa and I write contemporary YA! I also dabble in Adult literary! My brand is writing messy Iraqi-American Shia Muslim characters. I’m currently querying a novel about an Iraqi teen dad. My current WIP is a murder mystery with unhinged cousins 👀💛

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@abbeyfwilliams

abbey⁷ 🍉

@abbeyfwilliams

3 years

Hi! I'm Abbey and I write YA/A fantasy! My brand is messy, magical ace girls reckoning with monsters real and imagined, embracing darkness, and finding light. My current wip features a Lebanese-American girl facing the jinn and her OCD to save her sisters ✨

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 months

Oh and that white people get to write allegories about real life BIPOC pain but are exempt from speaking about it in real life while BIPOC are still censored. i find that exploitative. With that said I will still be sobbing as I read Haymitch’s book.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 months

White people stop using Muslims and Sharia to describe your own people's extremist ideologies challenge. we are not the marker of your backwards behavior. It's Islamophobic, babe.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

The existence of Pitch Wars also implies the existence of Pitch Peace where the mentors put down their bloodied swords and hold hands and make a manifesting circle for everyone as they summon agents. I just submitted and that's exactly what I imagine happening right now.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Today is the 10th day of Muharrum which is also known as Ashura. I want to talk about the significance of this day from the perspective of a Shia Iraqi Muslim (living in the US) and how this practice was woven into my diaspora community. Very long thread ahead!

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 years

This month I queried my novel, helped run a critique match, dealt w/ work BS, hosted the first SWANApit, wrote 90 pgs of my WIP, started grad school, and am now leaving for two weeks for my first international trip in four years. Lots of blessings & stress but aH for everything

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

1 year

I sometimes feel in the fiction world that books marketed as “Muslim” usually default Sunni Muslims and their practices and that Shia Muslim books (& other sects) are almost never included in that category because they are not being published or acknowledged in mainstream

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

okay, most of you write really beautiful words. Do you just naturally have them stored in your beautiful head or do you use a word bank or thesaurus? I need to step up some of the descriptions in my writing & am wondering what's your fave website to spice it up?

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Where are my YA authors writing openly against or on the consequences of imperialism?! Hi, I want to know you! ✨

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 years

My bb pitch contest is tomorrow!! 🥹 Tomorrow, I will 100% be an emotional stage mom. Just a friendly reminder that we are using the hashtag #SWANApit tomorrow. I sincerely apologize for any confusion! But let's spread the word!!

@SwanaPitch

#SWANApit

2 years

✨ #SWANApit is tomorrow ✨ We want you to know that we will be using the hashtag #SWANApit . Here are a few more tips to get you through tomorrow's pitching event!

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

8 months

wild how some of you write and publish books for children but have stayed silent about the 10k Palestinian children who have been murdered by Israel in the past 3 months

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

5 months

FATED IDIOTS TO LOVERS When Amirah agrees to the latest marriage proposal her parents have presented, they have no idea she just pulled off the perfect scheme. Except outwiting traditional rules may have set off a 10 yr curse instead & its after her #questpit #agented #adult

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

My first short story "A Disappearance" explores a subject that runs deep in my Iraqi diaspora community. I'm honored to share a cover and book alongside such incredibly beautiful, raw stories. Support BIPOC women and order your copy here❤️

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Okayyy I have started a slack channel! If you would like to join a Muslim Writing Group where we can be chaotic, share our work, ask questions, and genuinely support each other please DM me or respond below and I will add you in 🥰 Open to ALL Muslims writing PB-YA

@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

✨just wondering 🥺✨ are there any kid lit Muslim writer groups out there where we get to connect with other Muslim writers and be chaotic and ask questions? One obviously open to all sects. If there is, can I join 🥺 if not, who wants to start a lil group 👉🏼👈🏼🥲

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

10 months

As we see another wave of Arab dehumanization in mass media, is publishing going to, I don't know, actually try to publish Arab authors and their stories now or do we still need to fight at 1% to barely be seen or heard?

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

I met the author of Robin WIP!! I love you @kaitlin_writes ♥️😭

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

4 months

My book IN THE COUNTRY I LOVE (2026) may offer you a new perspective about Iraqi American perspectives post US invasion of Iraq 👀

@Patryk87837486

Towarzysz Patryk 🚩🔻

@Patryk87837486

4 months

Good morning Comrades

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Sometimes I forget how far I’ve come as a writer and realize I spent the first 5 years learning to write exactly how a YA white writer would and how white readers would’ve liked it (2010-2015) and then spent five years trying to figure how to write FOR me.That’s growth 🌱

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 years

I've been querying on + off since June of 2021. I'm sharing a slice of my writing + querying journey on the Bookends Blog today! 🥰✨BIPOC writers struggling with writing their authentic voice + querying writers working on R&Rs, this one is for you!

@BookEndsJessica

Jessica Faust

@BookEndsJessica

2 years

BookEnds is excited to join @jenissamichelle in welcoming @AlaaBarkawi to the team! Congrats to you both

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

10 months

I truly think people are minimizing how this dehumanization will only spread and expand. How Israel will not just stop at taking Palestine. The whole region is at threat. & that if your friends/community cannot stand up for Palestine they sure as hell will leave you in the dust

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

5 months

My sister in law's friend is trying to evacuate Gaza with her family. If you can please donate and/or share, would be much appreciated! Anything helps!!

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Help Evacuate the Abu Nada Family from Gaza, organized by Noor Al Saud

I am Zaki Abu Nada, I would like to tell my story. For the past few months, m… Noor Al Saud needs your support for Help Evacuate the Abu Nada Family from Gaza

www.gofundme.com

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

🌟 Looking for Beta Readers🌟 Looking for readers for my Snow White Retelling for the #BIPOCfairytale anthology short story submission My story has: 🪄 Magic 🔮 Fortune-telling 🧕🏽 7 Aunties instead of 7 Dwarfs ❤️ A Prince Who May or May not Show Up 🌴 Ancient-Arabia Vibes

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 months

this is not much of a hot take at all, and it's not just because I'm a contemporary writer, but a reader, too, and I just think more contemporary books should get those cute sprayed edges & be featured in more book boxes 🥹 I don't think it should be exclusive to mostly fantasy

@MireMarke

Mire Marke

2 months

What’s your current publishing/writing community hot take?

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 years

OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCING SWANA PITCH! Please mark your calendar on May 16 to pitch and or support your friends! Please share widely!

@SwanaPitch

#SWANApit

2 years

✨🧿Announcing #SWANApit 🧿✨ There's a shiny new pitch contest for South West Asian and North African writers! Help us spread the word and join us on May 16 8am-8pm EST for #SWANApit . For official rules please visit us or check out our attached guide.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

*clears throat nervously* ✨ LOOKING FOR BETA READERS✨ I am revising this book once again and will need at least 3 beta readers who can give feedback on pacing, plot, and structure. It’s not ready just yet but if you would like to read this in a few weeks let me know 🥺

@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

RAMY X THUG X After an Islamophobic hate crime, a teen father with shaky faith & the masjid’s golden boy are forced to face their estranged families if they’re to figure out the truth of the attack & the secret that tore their families apart years ago. #DVPit #YA #Con

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Oh hi, I’m so excited to have my first ever short story published by @TheNasiona !! We are looking for a voice actor who speaks Arabic/can pronounce Arabic words for the audiobook of the anthology! Do you know anyone who fits? Bonus points if they’re Iraqi!! Please RT+ SHARE

@TheNasiona

The Nasiona

3 years

Looking for a voice actor to record an essay for a women of color audiobook anthology in US English and can speak Arabic (there are Arabic words in the essay). Ideally, an Iraqi American voice actor. If you are interested or know of anyone, please DM. This is a paid gig. Pls RT.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 months

Got the kindest message 🥹. This is what I mean when I say that giving an author of color a chance, it allows their entire community to be on shelf. I want publishers to understand that when you champion one of us, that you’re giving the rest of us courage to tell our stories

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

8 months

This. The most evil of empires are not in your favorite fantasy book, they are your government.

@queersocialism

josh!

@queersocialism

8 months

the us would rather wipe out the entire middle eastern region than tell its client state to stop its genocidal onslaught against palestinians and i just don’t think enough of us are truly grasping the level of unconscionable depravity the non-western world is up against

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

1 month

✨CALLING ALL UNAGENTED SWANA AUTHORS✨ It’s finally time to apply to the Quillers 2024-2025 Mentorship Program! Applications close August 15, so don’t wait to get your applications in! You can find the application here: Happy applying!

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

1 month

After spending a lifetime watching my people be dehumanized, I wanted to reclaim the narrative and put Iraqis in all kinds of genres, not for the sake of representation but because we deserve to be seen as human too. Literary. Rom Com. Murder Mysteries. Fantasy. You name it 😙

@disneymom1126

A.K. Wilson

1 month

I don’t want your pitches I want the reason WHY you wrote your book 🥰🥰🥰

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

4 months

How many more babies need to be pulled from the rubble? How many kids do we have to watch screaming and crying for their dead mothers while they suffer from life-threatening injuries alone? How many mothers do we have to see hold their dead children as they scream their goodbyes?

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

10 months

This is what every military system is at the end of the day. Soldiers come home and kiss their families after slaughtering the brown ones. These people are committing genocide just miles away from where their own children live. Fuck the military & fuck Israel.

@EylonALevy

Eylon Levy

10 months

Israeli reservists coming home for a brief visit and seeing their kids for the first time in weeks is my new favorite internet content. ❤️ We know what we’re fighting for. We know why Hamas must be destroyed.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 years

It’s only be 1.5 hours and I said I would wait until 1/2 the day is through before getting emotional but it’s too late 😭 my heart is so full seeing all these SWANA pitches by SWANA creators! I can’t even keep up 🥹❤️

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Lately, when my 3 year old nephew is upset, he says “I’m crying” in arabic, without absolutely no tears, and honestly I’ve never related to something so hard in my life.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

9 months

Authors who merely put up a Gaza donation link or donated for Books For Palestine and have kept completely silent about Palestine on their platforms since then are not being the ally they should be. That was bare absolute minimum and going back regular programming is pathetic.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

5 months

It feels really hard to celebrate & be joyful this Eid while our fellow Muslims in Palestine and Sudan are being terrorized and murdered 💔 thinking about all the kids having their first eids without their parents, the parents who’ve lost kids who should’ve been here💔

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

1 year

Today marked the first day of Muharrum, and I’m thinking about my Shia Muslim boys in my Muharrum book 💕 While Muharram marks the start of the Islamic calendar, it is also the time of the year where Shias are the most misunderstood, stereotyped, targeted, and hated against.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Writing Update: Just hit 70k in my Knives Out X Sadie (Unhinged Iraqi Style) WIP🥳

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 months

✨Exciting News!✨ You can now add IN THE COUNTRY I LOVE on Goodreads! While I try to get verified, please enjoy these graphics I created to get to know the story a bit better! Shout out to @nessywrites for the beautiful aesthetic board! 🌄

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Wait, I made it anyways 😌😌😌

@trtworld

TRT World

3 years

Here's why the blockbuster 'Dune' is being called out for "cultural appropriation"

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 years

Each time a beta reader cries and yells at me while reading my revision, 10 extra years get added to my life. Hehe.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

2 years

as someone who constantly thinks my stories and writing isn't enough...thank you to everyone who left their sweet support during DVpit. Your kindness & enthusiasm is sincerely the boost I needed 🥹It gives me hope for this little Iraqi Shia book about friendship might make it 🫶🏽

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

7 months

I don't think that anti-imperialist stories should be exclusive to fantasy stories in kid lit. I don't think we always need big magic systems as metaphors for violence. I think we also need more anti-imperialist stories as contemporary because they are our current realities.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

4 months

share the first paragraph from your book/wip to gain some reader interest: adult serial killer rom com version 🔪❤️☕️

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@_mariemauthor

marie🫀

4 months

share the first paragraph from your book/wip to gain some reader interest: carnival wip version 🎡🎪

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Me waiting for email responses from agents after querying.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Just querying writing...but also, why isn't there a database of reputable authors query letters?! I wanna know what they wrote before the jacket copies. How rough or perfect was it really. Did they also cry? 🥲

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

I am once again asking for queries and synopses to be abolished from publishing. Please and thank you. Also, do not argue with me.

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@AlaaBarkawi

Alaa Al-Barkawi 🍉🇵🇸

3 years

Hit 50k with my Murder Mystery WIP 🥳 I'm confused because it took me like 3 years to get that far with my last book and this took me less than 3 months to get this far????

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