HASAN NAMIR
Author Website
I would like to acknowledge the shared, unceded traditional territory of the Katzie,
Semiahmoo, Kwantlen and other Coast Salish Nations on which I work, play and learn.



Available now!
Umbilical Cord
Book of Poetry
Lambda Literary and Stonewall Book Award-winner Hasan Namir shares a joyful collection about parenting, fatherhood and hope. These warm free-verse poems document the journey that he and his husband took to have a child. Between love letters to their young son, Namir shares insight into his love story with his husband, the complexities of the IVF surrogacy process and the first year as a family of three. Umbilical Cord is a heartfelt book for parents or would be parents, with a universal message of hope.
By Hasan Namir
ILLUSTRATIONS BY CATHRYN JOHN
The Name I Call Myself
Children’s Book
Selected as one of the best Canadian picture books of 2020 by CBC, The Name I Call Myself depicts Ari’s gender journey from childhood to adolescence in order to discover who they really are.
Throughout this beautiful and engaging picture book, we watch Ari grow up before our very eyes as they navigate the ins and outs of their gender identity.
Moving from age six to adolescence, The Name I Call Myself touchingly depicts Edward’s tender, solitary gender journey to Ari: a new life distinguished and made meaningful by self-acceptance and unconditional love.
Find this at your local independent bookstore or visit one of these links:

By Hasan Namir
War/Torn
Book of Poetry
Lambda Literary Award-winner and best Canadian Poetry Book Hasan Namir’s debut collection of poetry, War / Torn, is a brazen and lyrical interrogation of religion and masculinity—the performance and sense of belonging they delineate and draw together. Namir summons prayer, violence, and the sensuality of love, revisiting tenets of Islam and dictates of war to break the barriers between the profane and the sacred.
Find this at your local independent bookstore or visit one of the links below:
By Hasan Namir
God in Pink
Fiction
The debut book by Hasan Namir is a revelatory novel about being queer and Muslim, set in war-torn Iraq in 2003. Ramy is a closeted university student whose parents have died, and who lives under the close scrutiny of his strict brother and sister-in-law. They exert pressure on him to find a wife, leaving him anguished and struggling to find a balance between his sexuality, religion, and culture. Desperate for counsel, he seeks the advice of Ammar, a sheikh at a local mosque, whose tolerance is challenged by the contradictions between Ramy’s dilemma and the teachings of the Qur’an, leading him to question his own belief system.
Find this at your local independent bookstore, or visit one of the links below:
Reviews
Coming Soon!
Available SUMMER 2023
Banana Dream
Picture Book
Neal Porter at Holiday House/Neal Porter Books has bought world rights to Banana Dream by Hasan Namir, illustrated by Zainab Faidhi. The picture book is inspired by Namir’s own childhood enduring sanctions in Iraq, and explores a child’s coing to terms with his unusual name against a story of scarcity and want. Public is slated for Summer 2003; Hilary McMahon at Westwood Creative Artists represented the author, and the illustrator represented herself.


Media Appearances
JAN 14 2022
The Vancouver Sun: Vancouver poet Hasan Namir celebrates love, joys of same-sex parenthood
Emotional axis of Hasan Namir’s book links his joyous bond with his son and painful, profound bond with his baffled, somewhat homophobic father.
Tom Sandborn
DEC 14 2021
CBC Books: The best Canadian poetry of 2021
Umbilical Cord is a collection of joyous free-verse poems that chronicle Hasan Namir’s journey to fatherhood. The book is brimming with hope and love, as Namir writes love letters to his new son, recounts how he and his husband fell in love and documents the complicated process of IVF and surrogacy.
Hasan Namir
DEC 2 2021
q with Tom Power
Hasan Namir on Umbilical Cord and the importance of queer family literature
Award-winning Canadian author and poet Hasan Namir joined Tom Power to discuss his new poetry book, Umbilical Cord, inspired by his first year of parenthood.
Hasan Namir
nov 22 2021
The Chat with Hasan Namir
Poet Hasan Namir has produced a moving and complex portrait of fatherhood in his latest work, the poetry collection Umbilical Cord (Book*hug). Today he joins us on The Chat.
Hasan Namir
nov 5 2021
Writers Festival
Danny Ramadan hosts this conversation on poetry, parenthood and hope with Lambda Literary and Stonewall Award-winner Hasan Namir and his book of poetry, Umbilical Cord.
Hasan Namir
july 9 2021
Bookhug Press• Toronto, ON
Umbilical Cord Promo Video!
Hasan Namir
CTV Saskatoon • Saskatoon, SK
The Name I Call Myself
Hasan Namir & Cathryn John
49th Shelf
Editors’ Picks for February 2022
Umbilical Cord
by (author) Hasan Namir


Events

May 2022
Meet the Jury for the 2022 New Voices Award
This year PEN Canada’s award will be judged by authors Chantal Gibson, Eva Crocker and Hasan Namir.
pencanada.ca
Hasan Namir

mar 15 2022
Massy Arts Presents: Chasing The Poem
Languageless: Reconciling between languages
Date: Tue, Mar 15 2022
Time: 7:00 to 9:00 pm
massyarts.com
Hasan Namir