Samra Habib
Samra Habib | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Occupations | writer, photographer, activist |
Samra Habib is a Pakistani Canadian photographer, writer and activist.[1] They are most noted for Just Me and Allah, a photography project they launched in 2014 to document the lives of LGBTQ Muslims,[2] and We Have Always Been Here, a memoir of their experience as a queer-identified Muslim published in 2019 by Penguin Random House Canada.[3]
Born in Pakistan to Ahmadi Muslim parents, Habib emigrated to Canada with their family in 1991 to escape religious persecution.[3] They grew up primarily in Toronto and were forced into an arranged marriage as a teenager before coming out as queer.[4] Habib has also published articles bringing awareness to international social issues like women's rights[5] the experiences of queer Muslims,[6] and childcare.[7]
Just Me and Allah: A Queer Muslim Photo Project (2014)
[edit | edit source]Source:[8]
Habib's photography project, Just Me and Allah,[2] is focused on queer and Muslim iconography in order to spread the hidden culture of queer Muslims.[8] Habib themselves explains the motivation for the photography project saying "I wanted to show everyone the creative and brilliant LGBTQ Muslims I identified with the most and would hang out with at art shows, queer dance parties, and Jumu'ah prayers. So I picked up my camera and decided to photograph what I was witnessing.".[2]
We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir (2019)
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We Have Always Been Here was published on June 4, 2019, and was the winner of the 2020 edition of Canada Reads, in which it was defended by actress Amanda Brugel.[10] It was also longlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize,[11] and won a Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir or Biography at the 32nd Lambda Literary Awards.[12] The memoir has been received as a "...touching story of growing up, finding a home, and discovering oneself against the backdrop of cultural and familial expectations."[13] by the LGBTQ+ newspaper, Seattle Gay News, on April 1, 2022.
Its title was taken from a quote included in their memoir, We Have Always Been Here. Zainab, a transgender Muslim woman said, " We have always been here, it's just that the world wasn't ready for us.".[14]
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Jane van Koeverden, "Why Samra Habib wrote a memoir about growing up as a queer Muslim — and it's now a Canada Reads finalist". CBC Books, June 26, 2019.
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- ^ a b Sue Carter, "Samra Habib, founder of gay Muslim project, turns the camera on herself in new memoir". Toronto Star, June 21, 2019.
- ^ Tracey Ho Lung, "Penning a memoir helped this author find joy from her pain". The Globe and Mail, July 16, 2019.
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- ^ Deborah Dundas, "Mark Bourrie, Helen Knott, Robyn Doolittle feature on final RBC Taylor non-fiction prize long list". Toronto Star, December 4, 2019.
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- 21st-century Canadian photographers
- Pakistani emigrants to Canada
- Canadian Muslims
- Queer Muslims
- Queer photographers
- Pakistani queer people
- Muslim artists
- Muslim writers
- Living people
- 21st-century Canadian memoirists
- Lambda Literary Award winners
- Canadian Ahmadis
- 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people
- Canadian queer artists
- Canadian queer writers
- Canadian LGBTQ photographers