God in Pink

by Hasan Namir

tagged: gay, islamic studies, literary

Description

A Globe 100 Best Book of the Year

Lambda Literary Award winner

The debut book by Hasan Namir is a revelatory novel about being queer and Muslim, set in war-torn Iraq in 2003. Ramy is a closeted university student whose parents have died, and who lives under the close scrutiny of his strict brother and sister-in-law. They exert pressure on him to find a wife, leaving him anguished and struggling to find a balance between his sexuality, religion, and culture. Desperate for counsel, he seeks the advice of Ammar, a sheikh at a local mosque, whose tolerance is challenged by the contradictions between Ramy's dilemma and the teachings of the Qur'an, leading him to question his own belief system.

Alternating between quiet moments of beauty and raw depictions of violence, God in Pink poignantly captures the anguish and the fortitude of gay Muslims in Iraq.

About the Author

Hasan Namir was born in Iraq in 1987 and came to Canada at a young age. He graduated from Simon Fraser University with a BA in English. His debut novel God in Pink won the Lambda Literary Award for gay fiction in 2016. His other titles are the poetry book War/Torn and the children's picture book The Name I Call Myself. He lives in Surrey, BC.

Awards

Winner, Lambda Literary Award

Editorial Reviews

This book should be on everyone's shelf -- religious and non-religious alike. It is a raw, passionate, gritty tale of not only these two men who chose different paths, and are still making choices, but also of the many people around them who make their own life decisions to love, hate, accept, kill, tolerate or repel them. -Philadelphia Gay News

In alternating between the two points of view, Namir has created a story of intersecting fates, a figure eight of sorts ... This is a thoughtful, elegantly crafted book that shows love for its chatacters, and to illustrate the many degress of grey inherent to the alignment of one's faith, self, and desire. -subTerrain

This beautiful book moves back and forth between Ramy's quiet moments and violence but the most important thing that this book does is to capture the pain and the determination and fortitude of gay Iraqi Muslims. -Reviews by Amos Lassen

If reading from the context of queer lit, what's most revolutionary about God in Pink is its insistence on faith ... God in Pink gives voice to the often voiceless, offer the outside world a window into their lives, and provide a glimmer of hope for change. -The Globe and Mail

One can only hope that a courageous and talented voice like Namir's can hold a mirror up to Iraqi citizens so they can at least start seeing their fellow gay and lesbian citizens as valued human beings and not evil sinners to be ostracized, oppressed, silenced, and murdered. -Bay Area Reporter

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