PhD, University of ݮƵ
Master of Arts, Kansas State University
Master of Arts, University of Baghdad
Bachelor of Arts, Al-Moman University College
Extension: x43029
:lalethari@uwaterloo.ca
Biography
My academic journey began in Baghdad, Iraq as an English language student at a small teacher’s college, where I learned to teach English language and literature to non-native English speakers. After receiving my BA (1999), my interest in learning and teaching led me to complete my first MA degree (2002) from the University of Baghdad. In 2006, I had the opportunity to expand both my academic and cultural experiences when I won a Fulbright Scholarship to complete a second MA at Kansas State University (2008). My young family and I arrived in Canada as landed immigrants and one year later, I joined the PhD program at the University of ݮƵ. Since my graduation (2014), I divide my time between my family, my teaching, and my creative and scholarly work.
Selected Publications
Books
Forthcoming: Mothers, Mothering and Trauma/Intergenerational Trauma. Bradford: Demeter Press, 2025.
In progress: The Fortune Teller and Other Stories
Waiting for the Rain: A Memoir. Toronto: Mawenzi House Publishers, 2019.
From the Wounded Banks of the Tigris. London: Baseline Press, 2018.
Book Chapters
“Iraqi Mothers, Diasporic Sons: Narrative Patterns of Identity and Belonging inBaghdad Twist,”Representations of Refugee, Migrant, and Displaced Motherhood in a Global Context.Ed. Maria Lombard. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2022.
Pieces in Literary Journals and Anthologies
“Motherhood in Crisis,”Gilgamesh: A Journal of Modern Iraqi Art. Baghdad: Ministry of Information and Culture, 2022.
“Baghdad” (poem), “Carrying Baghdad” (visual art), “Dreams of Home” (visual art)., vol. 5, no. 2, Fall 2018.
“Poems of a Fallen City: Four Poems.”The New Quarterly, no. 147, Fall 2018.
“311 and Counting.”Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here:Poets and Writers Respond to the March 5th, 2007, Bombing of Baghdad's "Street of the Booksellers."Oakland: PM Press, 2012.
“Dreams of Exile,” “Roots,” and “Zahawi.”Malpais Review. vol. 2, no. 2, Autumn, 2012.
“After the Rain.”The Changing Image, Kitchener Public Library, 2011.
“Roots.”The Changing Image, Kitchener Public Library, 2009.
Fellowships & Awards
- Principal Investigator, Connection Grant, (SSHRC) Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, “The X Page: A Storytelling Workshop for Immigrant Women,” 2019-2020
- Nominee, National Magazine Award in Poetry, 2019
- Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2011-13
- The Dorothy Shoemaker Literary Award for Prose 2011
- Graduate Creative Writing Award for Poetry 2011
- The Dorothy Shoemaker Literary Award for Poetry 2009
- Graduate Creative Writing Award for Prose 2007
- J. William Fulbright Scholarship, 2006-2008
Current Research
I am currently preparing an autoethnography titledPatterns of Telling. The work is a critical and creative exploration of women’s life narratives in the diaspora.
Knowledge Mobilization
- Committee Member, The Naomi Shihab Nye Prize
- Nonfiction Editor,The New Quarterly
- Co-Founder, The X Page Project
Areas of Interest
- Life Writing/Women’s Life Writing
- Creative Writing
- Arab and Arab North American literature, history, and culture
- Diaspora and Postcolonial Theory
- War and Trauma Theory and Literature