{{Short description|Syrian-Canadian author and human rights activist}} {{Infobox person | name = Tima Kurdi | birth_date = 1970 | birth_place = Damascus, Syria | organization = The Kurdi Foundation | known_for = Refugee rights advocacy, writing | notable_works = ''The Boy on the Beach'' (2019 memoir) | family = Alan Kurdi (nephew) }}

'''Tima Kurdi''' (born 1970) is a Syrian-Canadian author and human rights activist. Born in Damascus, she moved to Canada as a young adult and is based in Coquitlam, British Columbia. Kurdi is the author of ''The Boy on the Beach'', which documents the circumstances that led to the death of her nephews Ghalib and Alan Kurdi, and their mother, Rehanna as they fled the Syrian civil war.

== Early life and education == Kurdi was born in 1970 and grew up in a Kurdish family in Damascus, Syria.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Khan |first=Adnan R. |date=2017-09-01 |title=Two years after Alan Kurdi's death, little has changed |url=https://www.macleans.ca/news/world/two-years-after-alan-kurdis-death-little-has-changed/ |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=Macleans.ca |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kurdi |first=Tima |title=The boy on the beach : my family's escape from Syria and our hope for a new home - City Libraries, City of Gold Coast |url=http://link.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/portal/The-boy-on-the-beach--my-familys-escape-from/LWn9tJgGiFQ/ |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=link.goldcoast.qld.gov.au |language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205222747/http://link.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/portal/The-boy-on-the-beach--my-familys-escape-from/LWn9tJgGiFQ/|archive-date=2022-12-05}}</ref> She emigrated to Canada in 1992, at the age of 22 years.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=19 June 2020 |title=14 books to read on World Refugee Day |work=CBC |url=https://www.cbc.ca/books/14-books-to-read-on-world-refugee-day-1.5616373}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Kurdi |first=Tima |date=2018-04-13 |title=Opinion: The crossing: Tima Kurdi on her family's voyage through tragedy and hope |language=en-CA |work=The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-crossing-tima-kurdi-on-her-familys-voyage-through-tragedy-and/ |access-date=2022-08-03}}</ref>

== Adult life ==

Kurdi is the founder of The Kurdi Foundation, through which she advocates for Canadians to be mindful of the needs of refugees.<ref>{{Cite web |last=French |first=Cameron |date=2021-03-15 |title=As war drags on, aunt of drowned Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi focuses on plight of refugees |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/as-war-drags-on-aunt-of-drowned-syrian-toddler-alan-kurdi-focuses-on-plight-of-refugees/ |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=CTVNews |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Daflos |first=Penny |date=2020-09-02 |title=Alan Kurdi's aunt marks grim anniversary of boy's death as refugee crisis continues |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/alan-kurdis-aunt-marks-grim-anniversary-of-boys-death-as-refugee-crisis-continues/ |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=British Columbia |language=en}}</ref> In 2018, she advocated for Canada to accept more refugees.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Wright |first=Teresa |date=2018-04-29 |title=Tima Kurdi wants Canada to take more refugees, hopes new book spotlights crisis |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/tima-kurdi-wants-canada-to-take-more-refugees-hopes-new-book-spotlights-crisis/ |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=British Columbia |language=en}}</ref>

Her memoir ''The Boy on the Beach'' documents her own family's efforts to escape the Syrian civil war and the circumstances that led to the deaths of Alan and Ghalib Kurdi (her nephews) and Rehanna (her sister in law), in 2015.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Patrick |first=Ryan B. |date=7 May 2018 |title=How Tima Kurdi is honouring the memory of her nephew with her book, The Boy on the Beach |work=CBC |url=https://www.cbc.ca/books/how-tima-kurdi-is-honouring-the-memory-of-her-nephew-with-her-book-the-boy-on-the-beach-1.4655201}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=12 Dec 2018 |title=Tima Kurdi |work=CBC |url=https://www.cbc.ca/books/tima-kurdi-1.4943079}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> In 2019, she expressed her distress that a movie about Alan's death was being made without the Kurdi family's consent by filmmaker Omer Sarikaya.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Larsen |first=Karin |date=28 June 2019 |title=Family distraught over unauthorized movie about 'boy on the beach' Alan Kurdi |work=CBC |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/family-distraught-over-unauthorized-movie-about-alan-kurdi-1.5143575}}</ref>

Kurdi lives in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada.<ref name=":0" />

== References ==

{{reflist}}

== External links ==

* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20170324033523/http://www.kurdifoundation.com/ Kurdi Foundation]}} official website

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurdi, Tima}} Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:Syrian emigrants to Canada Category:21st-century Syrian writers Category:21st-century Syrian women writers Category:Women founders Category:Organization founders Category:Writers from Damascus Category:Writers from British Columbia Category:People from Coquitlam Category:21st-century Kurdish writers Category:Kurdish activists Category:Kurdish women activists Category:Kurdish writers Category:21st-century Kurdish women writers Category:Canadian autobiographers Category:Syrian human rights activists Category:Syrian women activists Category:Canadian human rights activists Category:Canadian women activists Category:21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers Category:21st-century Canadian women writers Category:Canadian women non-fiction writers Category:Canadian women memoirists