About Jean Grant
About Me
I grew up in Montreal, Canada, a cool country. I
arrived in Cairo, Egypt, on a sweltering day in 1965. My plan was to see the world for a year or two before
settling down in the States with my husband. Instead, we went to Beirut, Lebanon, and loved it. I taught at the American University of Beirut until the Civil War really got going. Rat-a-tat-tat! Our seven-year old sauntered a mile from home into "Sniper Land" to collect bullets for his collection. It seemed time to leave the city we loved. I spent that summer and fall laboring on a 13-15th century ruin in the southwest of France.
A year later, broke and unemployed, we set off for Saudi Arabia where I taught at the international school and later became a staff reporter for Arab News, the major English daily. I knew Arabic well enough to carry on a conversation, and my editor thought it was quite a bonus that I could interview women, who were "off-limits" to my male colleagues. I specialized in profiles of ordinary people: merchants, camel drivers, beauticians, oilmen, artists, and educators.
Nine years later, we returned to the United States. We settled in Wisconsin, where I edited the Ripon College Magazine. Living abroad so long had given me the travel bug, so a while later, I backpacked through Asia. On my return, I hung out my slate as a personal historian. I wrote ten memoirs for clients as well as Seeds of Silence, a history of a Quaker Meeting in Lawrence, Kansas. I now mostly hang out with my husband Bob and our cat McCavity, also known as "the feline fiend."
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You dedicate the book to schoolgirls who died in a fire. What happened?
March 11, 2002, there was a fire in a girls school in Mecca, Saudi Arabia's most holy city. Fourteen girls died in a stampede as they tried to escape. A team from Arab News reported finding a large number of abayas, left by the girls in their rush to escape. It has been alleged that the religious police sent some girls back inside to get their veils.
Did you wear the veil?
Only once when I stayed with a Saudi family. They thought it would hurt my reputation and theirs if I didn't. Otherwise, I just covered my arms and legs and hair.
What are some good books set in Saudi Arabia?
Here are some wonderful ones: Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris; Hanan al Shaikh's Women of Sand and Myrrh; Hilary Mantel's Eight Months on Ghazzah Street; Cities of Salt by Abdelrahman Munif; and the poetry of Ghazi al-Gosaibi.
What are you working on now?
Faithless, a novel set in France and Lebanon.
I grew up in Montreal, Canada, a cool country. I
arrived in Cairo, Egypt, on a sweltering day in 1965. My plan was to see the world for a year or two before
settling down in the States with my husband. Instead, we went to Beirut, Lebanon, and loved it. I taught at the American University of Beirut until the Civil War really got going. Rat-a-tat-tat! Our seven-year old sauntered a mile from home into "Sniper Land" to collect bullets for his collection. It seemed time to leave the city we loved. I spent that summer and fall laboring on a 13-15th century ruin in the southwest of France.
A year later, broke and unemployed, we set off for Saudi Arabia where I taught at the international school and later became a staff reporter for Arab News, the major English daily. I knew Arabic well enough to carry on a conversation, and my editor thought it was quite a bonus that I could interview women, who were "off-limits" to my male colleagues. I specialized in profiles of ordinary people: merchants, camel drivers, beauticians, oilmen, artists, and educators.
Nine years later, we returned to the United States. We settled in Wisconsin, where I edited the Ripon College Magazine. Living abroad so long had given me the travel bug, so a while later, I backpacked through Asia. On my return, I hung out my slate as a personal historian. I wrote ten memoirs for clients as well as Seeds of Silence, a history of a Quaker Meeting in Lawrence, Kansas. I now mostly hang out with my husband Bob and our cat McCavity, also known as "the feline fiend."
________________________________________________
You dedicate the book to schoolgirls who died in a fire. What happened?
March 11, 2002, there was a fire in a girls school in Mecca, Saudi Arabia's most holy city. Fourteen girls died in a stampede as they tried to escape. A team from Arab News reported finding a large number of abayas, left by the girls in their rush to escape. It has been alleged that the religious police sent some girls back inside to get their veils.
Did you wear the veil?
Only once when I stayed with a Saudi family. They thought it would hurt my reputation and theirs if I didn't. Otherwise, I just covered my arms and legs and hair.
What are some good books set in Saudi Arabia?
Here are some wonderful ones: Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris; Hanan al Shaikh's Women of Sand and Myrrh; Hilary Mantel's Eight Months on Ghazzah Street; Cities of Salt by Abdelrahman Munif; and the poetry of Ghazi al-Gosaibi.
What are you working on now?
Faithless, a novel set in France and Lebanon.
Photo by Darlynne Devenny
Conversation about
The Burning Veil
How did you end up in the Middle East?
I'm an adventurer, and I had always wanted to see the region. I ended up staying there for 20 years.
What led you to write The Burning Veil?
In Saudi Arabia, I taught at Dhahran Academy. Since women weren't allowed to drive, every morning at 7:15 a.m. we teachers were bussed to the school. One morning, I noticed a fellow teacher silently weeping. She was an American married to a Saudi, and the marriage was going poorly. A few weeks later, she left. I met several women like her, who came to the kingdom full of hope and very much in love. A few stayed on. Several left. I was curious about Saudi American marriages. I hoped for a better outcome for my heroine, Sarah.
What was it like being a reporter in Saudi Arabia?
It was fun! I got to interview camel drivers, tycoons, merchants, shepherds, cabinet ministers, nannies, and artists. The Saudis are hospitable and tolerant of those who don't speak Arabic well.
Conversation about
The Burning Veil
How did you end up in the Middle East?
I'm an adventurer, and I had always wanted to see the region. I ended up staying there for 20 years.
What led you to write The Burning Veil?
In Saudi Arabia, I taught at Dhahran Academy. Since women weren't allowed to drive, every morning at 7:15 a.m. we teachers were bussed to the school. One morning, I noticed a fellow teacher silently weeping. She was an American married to a Saudi, and the marriage was going poorly. A few weeks later, she left. I met several women like her, who came to the kingdom full of hope and very much in love. A few stayed on. Several left. I was curious about Saudi American marriages. I hoped for a better outcome for my heroine, Sarah.
What was it like being a reporter in Saudi Arabia?
It was fun! I got to interview camel drivers, tycoons, merchants, shepherds, cabinet ministers, nannies, and artists. The Saudis are hospitable and tolerant of those who don't speak Arabic well.
Is it the same for women in Saudi Arabia now?
No, it's much better. King Abdullah has become a strong advocate for women. Here are some of his 2010 reforms:
- allowing men and women to attend classes together at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. The religious police are forbidden on campus.
- dismissing a cleric who condoned killing the owners of TV networks that broadcast "immoral" content
- changing the make-up of the Ulama, the commission of top religious scholars, so it now represents all branches of Sunni Islam instead of only the strict Hanbali sect.
- appointed woman as deputy minister.
