Elena Dudum

About The Author

Elena Dudum is a Palestinian American writer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, Time, Cosmopolitan, and Bon Appétit, among others. In 2025, she was awarded the Whiting Nonfiction Grant for Works-in-Progress for early chapters in They Told Me Back Home Would Be Beautiful. Her work has been supported by The de Groot Foundation, Tin House, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and Hedgebrook. Born in San Francisco, she now divides her time between New York and London. They Told Me Back Home Would Be Beautiful is her first book.

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Books by Elena Dudum

They Told Me Back Home Would Be Beautiful

A Palestinian Memoir

By Elena Dudum

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This “deeply felt memoir of race and history that defies social erasures of the diasporic Palestinian experience” (The Whiting Award Judges Citation) explores Elena Dudum’s transformational journey and evolving relationship to Palestine.

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