{{Short description|British writer}} {{for|her great-grandmother|Anbara Salam Khalidi}} {{Infobox person | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * University of York * St Antony's College, Oxford }} | occupation = | years_active = 2017–present | family = Anbara Salam Khalidi (great-grandmother) | partner = Struan Murray | children = 2 | website = {{URL|https://www.anbarasalam.com/}} }}
'''Anbara Salam''' is a British author of historical fiction. She wrote the novels ''Things Bright and Beautiful'' (2018), ''Belladonna'' (2020), and ''Hazardous Spirits'' (2023).
==Early life== Salam grew up in London with her younger siblings.<ref name="tnd 20">{{Cite web|url=https://thenerddaily.com/anbara-salam-author-interview/|title=Q&A: Anbara Salam, Author of 'Belladonna'|website=The Nerd Daily|first=Beth|last=Mowbray|date=4 July 2020|accessdate=12 March 2024}}</ref> Her Palestinian-Lebanese Muslim father and Scottish Presbyterian mother met in England in the 1980s as an international student and working-class librarian respectively.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/aug/31/what-my-grandmothers-taught-me-being-mixed-race|title=Granny, Teta and me: what my grandmothers taught me about being mixed race|journal=The Guardian|first=Anbara|last=Salam|date=31 August 2018|accessdate=12 March 2024}}</ref> Salam's great-grandmother and namesake was Lebanese feminist Anbara Salam Khalidi. Salam attended a day school in London.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fivebooks.com/best-books/boarding-school-novels-anbara-salam/|title=The Best Boarding School Novels recommended by Anbara Salam|website=Five Books|first=Cal|last=Flyn|accessdate=12 March 2024}}</ref> She was commended as a Foyle Young Poet in 2001 and a top 15 winner in 2002. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English and History from the University of York<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ypn.poetrysociety.org.uk/features/foyle-friday-michael-donkor-anbara-salam/|title=Foyle Friday 5: Michael Donkor & Anbara Salam|website=Young Poets Network|date=31 July 2018|accessdate=12 March 2024}}</ref> and later pursued a PhD in Theology at St Antony's College, Oxford.<ref name="hns 20">{{Cite web|url=https://historicalnovelsociety.org/anbara-salam-an-emerging-voice-on-the-historical-fiction-horizon/|title=Anbara Salam: an Emerging Voice on the Historical Fiction Horizon|website=Historical Novel Society|first=Waheed|last=Rabbani|date=2020|accessdate=12 March 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pangobooks.com/author/anbara-salam|title=Anbara Salam Books|website=Pango|accessdate=12 March 2024}}</ref>
==Career== In 2017, it was announced Fig Tree (a Penguin Books imprint) had won a three-way auction to publish Salam's debut novel ''Things Bright and Beautiful'' in April 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/de-butante-salam-looks-blossom-fig-tree-510961|title=Débutante Salam looks to blossom with Fig Tree|journal=The Bookseller|first=Sarah|last=Shaffi|date=17 March 2017|accessdate=12 March 2024}}</ref> The novel, centred around a married missionary couple in the New Hebrides,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/things-bright-and-beautiful-by-anbara-salam-review-missionary-prose-1.3478091|title=Things Bright and Beautiful by Anbara Salam review: missionary prose|journal=The Irish Times|first=Houman|last=Barekat|date=5 April 2018|accessdate=12 March 2024}}</ref> was inspired by her own experience living in Vanuatu for six months. At the time, outside of writing, Salam worked for an NGO that provided refugee students with postgraduate scholarships.<ref name="hns 20"/>
Fig Tree would go on to publish Salam's second novel ''Belladonna: Our Italian Year'', which took two years to write and edit,<ref name="tnd 20"/> in 2020. Set in the 1950s, the novel follows Bridget and Isabella, a pair of American Catholic school friends from Connecticut who win scholarships to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Pentila in northern Italy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://between-the-shelves.com/2020/06/review-belladonna/|title=Review: Belladonna|website=Between the Shelves|author=Amanda|date=9 June 2022|accessdate=12 March 2024}}</ref> ''Belladonna'' appeared on ''The New Arab'''s list of best books by Arab authors that year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newarab.com/features/best-books-arab-authors-2020|title=The best books by Arab authors in 2020|journal=The New Arab|first=Elias|last=Jahshan|date=22 December 2020|accessdate=12 March 2024}}</ref>
In 2022, Salam moved to Baskerville (an imprint of Hachette UK) for a two-book deal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/salam-moves-to-baskerville-with-two-exquisite-gothic-mysteries|title=Salam moves to Baskerville with two 'exquisite' gothic mysteries|journal=The Bookseller|first=Lauren|last=Brown|date=4 October 2022|accessdate=12 March 2024}}</ref> She had begun writing her third novel, a paranormal occult mystery set in 1920s Edinburgh, during the COVID-19 lockdown. The novel, titled ''Hazardous Spirits'', was released in October 2023.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/arts_ents/23881435.book-review-hazardous-spirits-anbara-salam/|title=Book review: Hazardous Spirits by Anbara Salam|journal=The Herald|first=Alastair|last=Mabbott|date=29 October 2023|accessdate=26 January 2024}}</ref>
''The Salvage'' is a finalist for the 2026 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Literature.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Strangman |first=Alice |date=2026-03-18 |title=2026 Lambda Literary Awards Finalists |url=https://locusmag.com/2026/03/2026-lambda-literary-awards-finalists/ |access-date=2026-03-26 |website=Locus Online |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Personal life== Salam lives in Oxford with her partner Struan Murray, also a writer, and their two children (born 2021 and 2024).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bathnovelaward.co.uk/2018/03/17/interview-struan-murray-winner-of-the-bath-childrens-novel-award/|title=Interview: Struan Murray, winner of the Bath Children’s Novel Award 2017|website=Bath Novel Award|first=Caroline|last=Ambrose|date=17 March 2018|accessdate=12 March 2024}}</ref> She is queer and used her novel ''Belladonna'' to come out to her parents, an experience she wrote about in the essay "Unheld Conversations".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newarab.com/opinion/arab-queer-unheld-conversations|title=This Arab is Queer: Unheld Conversations|journal=The New Arab|first=Anbara|last=Salam|date=21 June 2022|accessdate=12 March 2024}}</ref>
==Bibliography== ===Novels=== * ''Things Bright and Beautiful'' (2018) * ''Belladonna: Our Italian Year'' (2020) * ''Hazardous Spirits'' (2023) * ''The Salvage'' (2025)
===Short stories and essays=== * "Downtown Beirut", essay in ''Five Dials'' N. 45: ''Europe in Pieces'' (2018) * "Circus Freak", short story in ''The Circus'' (2019) for the Berlin Writing Prize (Runner-up)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thereaderberlin.com/2019-berlin-writing-prize-circus-freak-by-anbara-salam-runner-up/|title=2019 Berlin Writing Prize: Circus Freak by Anbara Salam (Runner-up)|journal=The Reader Berlin|author=Anbara Salam|date=2019|accessdate=12 March 2024}}</ref> * "Unheld Conversations", essay in ''This Arab is Queer'' (2022), edited by Elias Jahshan
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:salam, anbara}} Category:Living people Category:Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford Category:Alumni of the University of York Category:Arab LGBTQ people Category:British historical novelists Category:British LGBTQ novelists Category:British queer writers Category:English people of Lebanese descent Category:English people of Palestinian descent Category:English people of Scottish descent Category:Khalidi family Category:LGBTQ people from London Category:Novelists from London Category:British women historical novelists Category:Writers from London Category:Year of birth missing (living people)