If you are a First-Year Student at UO, you will receive a copy of Hijab Butch Blues through the Common Reading Program.
The UO Libraries also has a print copy and a two eBook copies available. If these aren't available, you might check out your local public library for print, eBook, or audiobook versions.
Want to participate in events surrounding the Common Reading this year? Check out these options:
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The UO Common Reading Program brings our community together through a shared reading experience. This year's book selection is the coming-of-age memoir, Hijab Butch Blues.
In this guide, you will find information about the book and its author as well as sources you go to to dive deeper and learn more. Topics covered include:
Hijab Butch Blues is a memoir in which I reconceive stories from the Quran as queer brown immigrant narratives in order to better understand my own queer brown immigrant life.
- Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues Book Club Guide
I felt that to write this books honestly and in a way that was vulnerable, I had to write it anonymously. It was really important to me to not be googleable, and maintain a degree of privacy and safety. I know those are such loaded terms, and call to mind things that I'm actually fighting against, so it felt complicated. But I haven't regretted the decision at all, because in order for me to be able to talk freely, and to be able to critique both hegemonic queerness and hegemonic Islam, I had to do that anonymously.
- Lamya H., Interview with Roxane Gay for the Audacious Book Club, March 30, 2023
Hijab Butch Blues was published anonymously by Lamya H (she/they), a queer Muslim writer and organizer who lives in New York City. Lamya has received fellowships from Lambda Literary, Apsen Words, and Queer|Arts and has published many essays in addition to her memoir. Want to know more? Visit: lamyah.com or follow Lamya @lamyaisangry on X or Instagram.
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