You Exist Too Much

This subversive debut follows a Palestinian-American woman existing at the intersection between cultural, religious, and sexual identities as she comes of age and comes out Told in spare vignettes set in New York, Palestine, Italy, Jordan, and more, You Exist Too Much explores desire and betrayal, romance and addiction, and the process of healing from self-destructive cycles created through trauma This book is for individuals who exist outside of the binary: those in between cultures, communities, sexualities, diagnoses. It's for first-generation and hyphenated-Americans, immigrants, members of the diaspora, and LGBTQ+ citizens, all of whom are too familiar with being told they're not enough of any one culture Research indicates that bi and pansexual people are at a higher risk of suffering from mental illness due to biphobia and erasure; this novel highlights those unique challenges through the main character who grapples with her queer identity and a religious, conservative mother The title also has a second, “hidden” meaning that refers to being Palestinian and the general condition of non-statehood and being from a country that has undergone an existential crisis for over 70 years, a country not seen as having a right to exist Zaina Arafat is a first-generation Palestinian-American and multi-lingual writer who is widely connected and admired, and is a recipient of the inaugural Arab Women/Migrants from the Middle East fellowship at Jack Jones Literary Arts. Her work has been published in places like The New York Times , the Washington Post , the Atlantic , BuzzFeed , VICE , and NPR. She teaches Middle East Politics for the school at the New York Times. This novel was acquired by Catapult editor in chief Jonathan Lee, the editor of notable debuts such as Rough Magic and Welcome To Lagos