Diana Abu-Jaber

Diana Abu-Jaber is a novelist, memoirist, and professor whose work often examines Arab American identity, family inheritance, displacement, and food. Fencing with the King follows Amani, who travels with her father to Jordan after finding a mysterious poem connected to her grandmother. The family journey grows into an inquiry about a missing relative, property, memory, and the stories passed between generations. W. W. Norton presents the novel as drawing on King Lear and Arthurian fable, while Abu-Jaber has explained that her father’s experience fencing with King Hussein helped inspire it. Her other books include Arabian Jazz, Crescent, The Language of Baklava, Origin, and Life Without a Recipe.