Zoë Ferraris Explained

Zoë Ferraris
Birth Place:	Oklahoma, U.S.
Occupation:	Novelist
Nationality:	American
Awards:	Alex Award (2009)

Zoë Ferraris is an American novelist. She was born in Oklahoma. In 1991 she married a man from Saudi Arabia. She lived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with her in-laws for nine months.^[1] Her time in Saudi Arabia is the background for the three novels she has written.^[2] She has also written a children's novel.

Books

Nayir ash-Sharqi and Katya Hijazi series

• Finding Nouf (2008) follows main character Nayir ash-Sharqi, a Palestinian guide, as he attempts to solve the murder of a young girl. The girl went missing three days before what was to be her arranged marriage.^[3] In the UK the book was published under the title "The night of the Mi'raj".
• City of Veils (2010) also features characters Nayir ash-Sharqi and Katya Hijazi, both featured in Finding Nouf. This time they are investigating the murder of a young woman whose body was discovered washed up on a beach. The victim, Leila Nawar, was a film-maker working on a subversive film about the Qur'an's origins. The Guardian critic and crime writer Laura Wilson recommended Ferraris's second novel as one of the best fiction books of 2010.^[4]
• Kingdom of Strangers: A Novel (2012)

Other

• Galaxy Pirates: Hunt for the Pyxis (2015)

Awards

In 2009, Ferraris won an Alex Award for Finding Nouf.^[5]

Finding Nouf also won the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction category.^[6]

External links

• Official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: Envisioning herself as a Saudi man. Los Angeles Times. 17 January 2016.
2. Web site: Zoe Ferraris Raises the Veil: Love and Murder Mysteries in Modern Saudi Arabia. 17 August 2010. The Huffington Post. 17 January 2016.
3. Web site: Mystery of the Saudi desert. Los Angeles Times. 17 January 2016.
4. Web site: The best of the fiction year – review. Justine Jordan. the Guardian. 17 January 2016.
5. Web site: ALA | 2009 Alex Award winners . April 30, 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090416164137/http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/alexawards/alex09.cfm . April 16, 2009 .
6. Web site: Book Prizes – Los Angeles Times Festival of Books» 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Winners. https://web.archive.org/web/20100226191151/http://events.latimes.com/bookprizes/previous-winners/year-2008/. dead. 26 February 2010. 17 January 2016.