ELENA
DUDUM
Writer, Strategist, Slow but Studious Reader
I’m a Palestinian & Syrian-American writer whose work is sometimes funny, sometimes political, sometimes both. Lately, my writing seeks to explore the boundaries of generational trauma and what it means to have an identity shaped by political narratives and agendas. As a grandchild of Palestinian refugees, my work tries to untangle the notion of a “homeland” and how I can connect to this amorphous place — two generations removed.
About
Most recently, I graduated from Columbia University with an MFA in Nonfiction Writing where I also taught freshmen composition for the last two years. I’m at work on my memoir, They Told Me Back Home Would Be Beautiful, which untangles my relationship to my Palestinian identity from childhood to adulthood. Born into a family where Palestine was ever-present in stories and debates but physically distant, I struggle with what it means to claim a history and identity tied to a land I’ve never seen — especially when that identity is both a source of pride and pain. I attempt to navigate the weight of a legacy I’ve long sought to avoid.
I am currently represented by Iwalani Kim of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.
Background