She grew up in Kuwait and Egypt, and moved to New York at the age of 13. She attended Sarah Lawrence College, and studied creative writing, then went on to receive a MA in Middle Eastern Studies from UT Austin and a MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. She has taught College Writing, Creative Writing, and Arab-American literature.

A Map of Home has also been published in Taiwan, Germany, Italy, China, and Israel.

She is Assistant Professor of English at California State University, Fresno, and is at work on a collection of stories and a second novel.

• A Map of Home: A Novel Hardcover: Other Press 2008. ISBN 1590512723.
• A Map of Home: A Novel Paperback: Penguin 2009. ISBN 0143116266.

Translation:

• The Year Of The Revolutionary New Bread-making Machine by Hassan Daoud, 2007. ISBN 9781846590269, Published by Telegram, Paperback

Anthologies:

• Words Without Borders: The World Through the Eyes of Writers, Alane Salierno Mason, Dedi Felman, Samantha Schnee (eds), Anchor Books, March 2007, ISBN 9781400079759