Zeyn Joukhadar

Zeyn Joukhadar is a Syrian American writer. Joukhadar is the recipient of the 2021 Stonewall Book Award and Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction for The Thirty Names of Night.

Biography

Zeyn Joukhadar is nonbinary and uses he/him and they/them pronouns. Joukhadar is originally from New York City. Joukhadar holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut and a PhD in pathobiology from Brown University. Prior to pursuing writing full time, he worked as a biomedical research scientist. His first novel, The Map of Salt and Stars, was published in 2018.

Published works

Novels

Anthology (Fiction)

Anthology (Non-Fiction)

• Joukhadar, Zeyn (2025). “An Incomplete History of Trans Immortality”. In Norris, Denne Michele (ed.). Both/And. HarperOne. .

Honors and awards

Won

The Map of Salt and Stars

• 2018 Middle East Book Award - Youth Literature Award

The Thirty Names of Night

• 2021 Stonewall Book Awards - Barbara Gittings Literature Award
• 2021 Lambda Literary Award - Transgender Fiction

Nominated

The Map of Salt and Stars

• 2018 Goodreads Choice Awards finalist - Historical Fiction
• 2018 Goodreads Choice Awards semifinalist - Debut Author
• 2019 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize shortlist - Best Published Novel

Short stories and essays

• 2015 Pushcart Prize - "We Will Tell Our Children", first published in Gulf Stream Magazine
• 2020 Pushcart Prize - "Incantations for Unsung Boys", first published in the Columbia Journal

References