Zahra Hankir

About Zahra Hankir

Hi! I’m Zahra, a Columbia University-trained reporter, editor and writer with more than 10 years of experience in journalism and content curation. I’m also the editor of a book of essays by Arab women journalists, published by Penguin Books in the US and Harvill Secker (Vintage) in the UK in August 2019.My second book, a cultural history of eyeliner from Nefertiti to Amy Winehouse, was published by Penguin Books and Vintage Books in 2023 and received positive reviews from publications including the New York Times, AP, and Wall Street Journal.I previously worked as a reporter and editor at Bloomberg News in Dubai and London. While at Bloomberg, I covered the ramifications of the Arab Spring on the economies and markets of the Middle East and North Africa. As an editor in London, I helped set up the media company\'s first live blog in Europe, and also covered or edited breaking news on terror attacks, the run-up to Brexit and central bank decisions across EMEA. My byline has appeared in Guernica, the LA Times, LA Review of Books, Literary Hub, VICE, Middle East Eye, Roads & Kingdoms, Gal-dem, Al Jazeera English, BBC News and Businessweek. My academic background is in Middle Eastern Studies, Islamic movements and International Politics. I was the recipient of a Jack R. Howard Fellowship in International Journalism at Columbia School of Journalism in New York, where I specialized in newspaper and magazine writing and wrote about the Muslim community of Queens.

Experience

1. Author

   Penguin Random House

   Sep 2017 — Present · New York, NY, US

   Forthcoming: Editor of Let It Be A Tale: Palestinian Journalists on Survival and Resistance (2026/27). Author of Eyeliner: A Cultural History, a NYT Book Review editors’ pick (2023).Editor of Our Women on the Ground, a book of original essays by Arab women (2019).

Education

• The University of Manchester

  MA

• Columbia University - Graduate School of Journalism

  MS

• American University of Beirut

  BA