Media Kit

Short Bio

Alaa Al-Barkawi is a first-generation, Iraqi-American Shia Muslim writer. Born to a refugee family, Alaa has called Salt Lake City, Utah home for the past twenty-eight years. She is the founder of SWANApit, a literary pitch event for Southwest Asian and North African writers, which launched in May of 2022. Alaa holds a master’s degree in communications from Johns Hopkins University with an emphasis in public and media relations and has worked with refugee and immigrant students for nearly a decade. When she’s not writing, you can find her making the next-best vegan cookie recipe she found on Pinterest or haunting her local cafe. Alaa is represented by Jenissa Graham at Bookends Literary Agency.

Long Bio

Alaa Al-Barkawi is a first-generation, Iraqi-American Shia Muslim writer. Born to a refugee family, Alaa has called Salt Lake City, Utah home for the past twenty-eight years. Alaa writes young adult novels featuring messy Muslim teens navigating fraught political landscapes while balancing weighty family responsibilities. Her adult stories contain romantic hijinks, curses and fate, sometimes murder, but always a silly Arab woman at the center. Her young adult debut novel, IN THE COUNTRY I LOVE, will be published in Summer 2026 by Peachtree Teen.

Alaa holds a master’s degree in communications from Johns Hopkins University with an emphasis in public and media relations and has worked with refugee and immigrant students for nearly a decade. In 2021, she served as a Literary Fellow for Bookends Literary Agency under the guide of Emily Forney and an Authentic Voices Fellow for the Women’s National Book Association. When she’s not writing, you can find her making the next-best vegan cookie recipe she found on Pinterest or haunting her local cafe. Alaa is represented by Jenissa Graham at Bookends Literary Agency.