Barrak poses for his author photo in a shirt and navy blazer, he is standing in front of tropical greenery

Memoir, Prose, Poetry & Art Criticism

Barrak Alzaid

Barrak Alzaid is a writer of memoir, prose, poetry and art criticism whose current work in progress, Fabulous, relates his queer coming of age in Kuwait and depicts a story of family fracture and healing.

His short story The Runner was awarded a first runner-up prize and published in Rusted Radishes: Beirut Literary and Art Journal as part of the Barjeel Art Foundation’s Mudun Short Story Prize. His poem Fa’et was awarded a first place prize by Nasiona Magazine in their inaugural micro nonfiction and poetry competition. He has been awarded fellowships and residencies through Yaddo, La Napoule Foundation, Delfina Foundation, Lambda Literary Retreat and 100 West – Corsicana Artist & Writer Residency.

He is a founding member of the artist collective GCC.

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A Memoir

Fabulous

Fabulous (work in progress) is a memoir of a young Muslim boy whose queerness was ignited by brawny eighties cartoon heroes and cultivated in early internet chatrooms and porn sites.

Growing up, Islamic and Kuwaiti values created a sense of belonging that seemed unbreakable. But when Barrak came out to his parents, they shunned him, contradicting everything they had taught him. The same values that brought him comfort were used as weapons to silence him. Fabulous examines how these values contributed to a family’s rupture even while they sustained their connection, and eventually contributed to their healing.

This intimate coming of age story chronicles the fight for self expression in a society that upholds repressive norms.

Excerpts are published online in Nailed Magazine and in several print anthologies, including The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human: Tales from Many Muslim Worlds (Penguin SEA), Emerge: 2018 Lambda Fellows Anthology, and in New Moons, an anthology of Muslim writing edited by Kazim Ali (Redhen Press).