Samra Habib

Samra Habib
Born
Pakistan
Occupation(s)writer, photographer, activist

Samra Habib (they/them) 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 journal articles bringing awareness to international social issues like women's rights[5] and childcare.[6]

Just Me and Allah: A Queer Muslim Photo Project (2014)[7]

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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.[7] 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) [8]

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We Have Always Been Here was published on June 4th, 2019, and was the winner of the 2020 edition of Canada Reads, in which it was defended by actress Amanda Brugel.[9] It was also longlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize,[10] and won a Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir or Biography at the 32nd Lambda Literary Awards.[11] 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."[12] by the LGBTQ+ newspaper, Seattle Gay News, on April 1st, 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."[13] .

References

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b c Elisabeth Ponsot (May 8, 2015). "'Just me and Allah': Photographer seeks to capture diversity of Islam". PBS NewsHour.
  3. ^ a b Sue Carter, "Samra Habib, founder of gay Muslim project, turns the camera on herself in new memoir". Toronto Star, June 21, 2019.
  4. ^ Tracey Ho Lung, "Penning a memoir helped this author find joy from her pain". The Globe and Mail, July 16, 2019.
  5. ^ Habib, Samra (2003). ""NAC.NAC.Who's There?"". Horizons. 16 (4): 9.
  6. ^ Habib, Samra (2004). ""Will Child Care Quality Slide?'". Horizons. 17 (3): 11.
  7. ^ a b Habib, Samra (2014). "Just Me and Allah: A Queer Muslim Photo Project". Tumblr.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ "We have always been here". Diva: 60–63. October 2019.
  9. ^ Patrick, Ryan B. (July 23, 2020). "The winner of Canada Reads 2020 is..." CBC Books. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  10. ^ Deborah Dundas, "Mark Bourrie, Helen Knott, Robyn Doolittle feature on final RBC Taylor non-fiction prize long list". Toronto Star, December 4, 2019.
  11. ^ Vanderhoof, Erin (June 1, 2020). "EXCLUSIVE: The Winners of the 32nd Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Vanity Fair.
  12. ^ Anderson, Lindsey (April 1, 2022). "" We Have Always Been Here highlights Queer community in Muslim spaces"". Seattle Gay News. Vol. 50, no. 13. p. 15.
  13. ^ Habib, Samra (2019). We Have Always Been Here. Penguin Random House. p. 180.


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