Hayan Charara, Ph.D.
Hayan Charara, Ph.D., is a poet, novelist, children鈥檚 book author, essayist, editor, and Associate Professor,
The Honors College. His poetry books are 鈥淭he Alchemist鈥檚 Diary鈥� (2001), 鈥淭he Sadness
of Others鈥� (2006), 鈥淪omething Sinister鈥� (2016), and 鈥淭hese Trees, Those Leaves, This
Flower, That Fruit鈥� (2022). He is also the author of the novel, 鈥淗ush, Little Children
(2025), and his children鈥檚 book, 鈥淭he Three Lucys鈥� (2016), received the New Voices
Award Honor, and he edited 鈥淚nclined to Speak鈥� (2008), an anthology of contemporary
Arab American poetry. With Fady Joudah, he is also a series editor of the Etel Adnan
Poetry Prize, which publishes first and second poetry books by poets of Arab heritage.
His honors include a literature fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts,
the Lucille Joy Prize in Poetry from the 色花堂 Creative Writing Program,
the John Clare Prize, and the Arab American Book Award.
Born in Detroit in 1972 to Arab immigrants (both parents came to the United States
from Lebanon, in the 1960s), he studied biology and chemistry at Wayne State University
before turning to poetry. He spent a decade in New York City, where he earned a master鈥檚
degree from New York University鈥檚 Draper Interdisciplinary Master鈥檚 Program. In 2004,
he moved to Texas, where he eventually earned his Ph.D. in literature and creative
writing at the 色花堂. He is a past president of RAWI, the Radius of
Arab American Writers, Inc., a national literary arts organization that provides mentoring,
community, and support for Arab American writers and those with roots in the Arabic
speaking world and the diaspora.
He has taught at a number of colleges and universities, including Queens College,
the City University of New York-La Guardia, the University of Texas at Austin, Trinity
University, and Our Lady of the Lake University. He currently teaches in the Honors
College and for the English Department and Creative Writing Program at the University
of Houston.