About

Hadil Ghoneim writes in Arabic and English. Her nonfiction essays and columns have appeared in Zone 3, Michigan Quarterly Review Online, Arab Lit Quarterly, Mada Masr, Shorouk, Al-Ahram and other print and online publications. She contributed to Beyond Memory: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Creative Nonfiction (2020) with her essay, “Baba and the Pontiac”.

Hadil has written many fiction and nonfiction books for children and young adults. Her book Layali Shahrzizi (The Nights of Shahrzizi) won the 2020 Etisalat Book of the Year award for Arabic Children’s Literature. Sisters Hana and Sheba was a finalist for best picture book for the same award in 2022. Those Are Your Lenses, Abla was shortlisted for best storywriting in 2020 from the Children’s Books Publishers Forum. Her middle grade novella, Sana fi Qena (A Year in Qena) was a finalist for the Etisalat Award in 2014 and is on the IBBY Honor List. Recently, she wrote song lyrics for the children’s album Afratta in a musical collaboration produced by Mophradat.

Hadil holds a BSc in Political Science from Cairo University and an MSc in Culture and Society from the London School of Economics. She was the assistant editor of the book review magazine “Weghat Nazar” for several years since its inception. During her time as editor at Dar El Shorouk, she translated and localized many books for children into Arabic, including the famous book series Geronimo Stilton. 

When not writing (or playing tennis), Hadil is busy with community projects and initiatives revolving around culture, dialogue, and storytelling. She currently lives with her husband and young daughter in Ann Arbor, Michigan.