Ghassan Abou-Zeineddine

  • Assistant Professor

Areas of Study

Education

  • PhD, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2016

  • MFA, Columbia University, 2005

  • BA, George Washington University, 2002

Biography

I’m the author of the story collection Dearborn (Tin House) and coeditor of the creative nonfiction anthology Hadha Baladuna: Arab American Narratives of Boundary and Belonging (Wayne State University Press). My fiction has appeared in the Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, Michigan Quarterly Review, TriQuarterly, the Arkansas International, Witness, Pleiades, Fiction International, the Common, Epiphany, FOLIO, Grist: A Journal of the Literary Arts, and the Iron Horse Literary Review, among other publications. 

In my fiction writing, tragedy and comedy work in tandem, and in some cases, comedy transcends tragedy by embodying a broader range of emotions. When I put words down on the page, I’m most comfortable processing and dramatizing distressing matters through a comedic approach. It’s not easy to make readers laugh, but I find that when you do, they might be more willing to follow you down whatever path you take them on. Having said this, let me admit the following horror: I laugh at my own jokes. It’s a curse that I’ve inherited from my father’s side of the family: my paternal grandfather would burst into laughter before he even finished his jokes, as did my father. I’m trying to improve in this regard.  

I’ve previously taught at the American University of Beirut, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Kenyon College, and the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Fall 2024

Introduction to Fiction Writing — CRWR 120
Ethnic American Story Cycle — CRWR 268
The Art of Podcasting — CRWR 307
Practicum — CRWR 485

Spring 2025

Weird Tales — CRWR 279
Practicum — CRWR 485
Creative Writing Capstone Seminar — CRWR 490

Notes

Ghassan Abou-Zeineddine Story Collection "Dearborn" Receives Several Honors

May 8, 2024

Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Ghassan Abou-Zeineddine participated in a panel titled “Short Stories: A Slice of Life” at the L.A. Times Book Festival, where his story collection Dearborn was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. Dearborn was recently selected as the New York Public Library’s Book of the Day and was also longlisted for the Story Prize and the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection. The story collection was awarded the 2023 Khayrallah Book Prize and included in Kirkus Reviews’ “20 Fiction Breakthroughs That Live Up to the Hype.” The book has been named a 2024 Michigan Notable Book, a 2024 American Library Association Notable Book, and a Best Fiction Book of 2023 by Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, the Chicago Public Library, Powell’s, and the Writer’s Bone, and a Good Housekeeping Best Book of Fall and a Washington Post Best Book of September, among other honors.

Ghassan Abou-Zeineddine Received 2023 Evelyn Shakir Creative Nonfiction Award

November 21, 2023

Professor Ghassan Abou-Zeineddine recently attended the Arab American Book Awards ceremony at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, on Saturday, November 11, where he received the 2023 Evelyn Shakir Creative Nonfiction Award for his coedited anthology Hadha Baladuna: Arab American Narratives of Boundary and Belonging. Hadha Baladuna explores the diverse range of the Arab diaspora in the Detroit metro area.

 

News

College of Arts and Sciences Welcomes New Faculty for 2023-24

September 18, 2023

Students choose Oberlin—and thrive at Oberlin—because of the nurturing mentorship of the outstanding faculty who guide their learning. We are honored to welcome the newest additions to our faculty across the College of Arts and Sciences for 2023-24.

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