About
Working as a traditional artist with watercolor and ink, Zahra creates work that reflects her cultural roots in Kuwait as well as her life now in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She loves poetry and independent cinema and how quiet and mysterious the night is. She is deeply fond of the sea.
Her debut picture book, Where Butterflies Fill the Sky, was published by Bloomsbury Books and named one of the New York Times / New York Public Library’s 10 Best Illustrated Books as well as NPR’s Best Books of 2022. The week before receiving the Dilys Evans Founders Award from the Society of Illustrators, she was honored with an award by the UN Human Rights Commission for creating art that brings visibility to statelessness, indigenous groups, and minority rights.
Represented by Andrea Morrison at Writers House for literary work and by Frank Rose and Martha Traer at Hecho A Mano for fine art work
New York Times Book Review Commission
Illustration for The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan
February 2024
Cinema Al-Ula, Mahmoud Sabbagh Film and Cinema Poster Commissions
Spring 2022 and 2023
Middle East Now Film Festival
Florence, Italy 2021
National Institute of Flamenco – Festival Flamenco Poster
June 2020
Hecho a Mano Gallery
Santa Fe, New Mexico
4 July 2025
Classical Arabic Poetry written by Women, Group Exhibit
Rise, Habibi in collaboration with Saqi Books and Shubbak Festival with Artists Malak Mattar, Lena Kassicieh, Molly Crabapple among others
Crypt Gallery
London, England
22 May – 15 June
Until There is Nothing Left to Forgive
in collaboration with Tara Khozein
Mark Horst Co-op Space, Harwood Art Center
Albuquerque, New Mexico
25 January 2025
With Theater Vocalist Tara Khozein. Illustration, Song, and Samovar
Ezra Jack Keats Award Honor for Illustration
Brooklyn, New York / Hattiesburg, Mississippi
New York Public Library — Vibrant Voices Book List
Center for Educators and Schools
Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books of the Year 2023 Edition
Bulletin of the Center of Children’s Books
Blue Ribbon 2022
Chicago Public Library
Best of the Best Books 2022
The New York Times / New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2022
15 November 2022, NYPL
NYC, New York
United Nations Human Rights Commission Art Award
For bringing visibility to minority, indigenous, and stateless rights
3 November 2022, Palais Eynard and UNHCR Headquarters
Geneva, Switzerland
School Library Journal Best Books of 2022
Out from the Margins Award
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
Society of Illustrators – Original Art 2022
Dilys Evans Founder’s Award
New York City, New York
NPR’s Best Books of 2022: Books we Love
Mayer of Munich — International District Library Artist Finalist
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Highlights Foundation – Full Scholarship Recipient
Milanville, Pennsylvania
New Mexico Writers Grant Recipient
April 28, La Fonda on the Plaza
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Boston Public Library | Finalist for Writer | Illustrator-in-residence program
Boston, Massachusetts
August 2021
Creative Bravos Award | Awarded by City of Albuquerque
Albuquerque, New Mexico
January 2021
Longlisted Artist — dPictus Unpublished picture book showcase
Frankfurt Book Fair | Unpublished Picturebook Showcase Feature
Frankfurt, Germany
AOI World Illustration Awards | Shortlisted Artist
London, England
Los Angeles Portfolio Mentorship Award [scbwi]
Los Angeles, California
Women and Creativity Shine Award
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Makers Muse Award, Kindle Project
An international award given to 8 artists.
Sakina and the Uninvited Guests Book Launch
Hecho a Mano
Santa Fe, New Mexico
18 May 2025
Talk with Artist Esther Elia
Sakina and the Uninvited Guests Book Launch
Bookworks, Independent Books
Albuquerque, New Mexico
3 May 2025
Mountains and Plains Independent Book Sellers Conference
Sakina and the Uninvited Guests, Bloomsbury
San Antonio, Texas
10 April 2025
Artist Talk and Interview with Esther Elia
Hecho a Mano
Santa Fe, New Mexico
6 April 2025
Writing and Illustration Library Presentation
Rural outreach with Rising Writers | New Mexico Writers
Gallup, New Mexico
13 March 2025
How to Pack a Suitcase – Poetry Reading
Reflexiones y Realidades: Artistic Reflections & Dialogue on the Border. Film and Poetry
National Hispanic Cultural Center
Supported by NM Humanities Now, Mellon Foundation, and the University of New Mexico
28 February 2025
Art and Narrative for Human Rights
Global Movement Against Statelessness Community Call
United Kingdom – 12:30 / March 5
Memory as Dreamscape – Writing for Illustrators
Summer National Conference
Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators
3 August 2024
PBS ¡COLORES! Feature
2024
Visualizing the Text
Panel with Artists Liniers, Matthew Cordell, Lauren Redniss, and Minnie Phan
School Library Journal
25 July 2024
University of Exeter, Arab and Islamic Studies Institute
Invitation for a creative collaboration with Dr Claire Beaugrand
Lecturer in Sociology of the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula
Exeter, England
22 June – 28 June 2024
Art and Storytelling Lecture
Mazza Picture Book Art Museum
Findlay, Ohio
17 July 2024
Narrative, Poetry, and Visual Composition building Workshop
Statelessness, Gender Equality and Human Rights Conference
Hosted by ISI, NGO based in the Netherlands
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
26 – 29 February 2024
Conference Chronicler, invited on Creative Capacity
Statelessness, Gender Equality and Human Rights
Hosted by ISI, NGO based in the Netherlands
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
26 – 29 February 2024
Books of Wonder — Illustrator Panel
With Doug Salati, Kari Parcival, Juliana Perdomo, Pauline David-Sax moderated by Mike Curato
Brooklyn, New York
17 April 2023
Tucson Festival of Books – Author | Illustrator Talk
Tucson, Arizona
March 2023
Statelessness, Watercolours, and Ink – Minority Rights Group
Talk with Noble Peace Prize Nominee Anna Alboth
10-11 am (New Mexico), 5-6 pm (London), 6-7 pm (Berlin)
28 February 2023
Special Collections Library Presentation – Author | Illustrator Talk
Albuquerque, New Mexico
10 December 2022
Saturday Stories Workshop
Society of Illustrators
19 November 2022
Breaking into the Industry Panel
With illustrators Charlie Mylie and Jamie Green, moderated by Pat Cummings
Society of Illustrators
15 November 2022
Bookmarks Literary Arts Festival
Author | Illustrator talk
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
23 – 24 September 2022
Washington D.C. Public Library | Politics and Prose
Author | Illustrator talk
30 June 2022
Santa Fe Public Library | Main Library
Author | Illustrator talk
June 2022
NPR with Ari Shapiro
May 2022 — On Statelessness, Protests, and Personal Narrative
Booklist Panel | American Library Association
New Homes, New Stories: An Illustrator Panel
11 February 2022
BBC Arabic – Reasons behind Where Butterflies Fill the Sky
Winter 2021
Cinema la Compagna, Middle East Now Film Festival
Art Talk
September 2021
Where Butterflies Fill the Sky, Bloomsbury
Mountains and Plains Independent Book Sellers Conference
Denver, Colorado
September 2021
PBS ¡COLORES! Feature
2021
Vamos Al Museo, Museum talk + Workshop
National Hispanic Cultural Center
5 May 2018
Santa Fe, New Mexico
2025
United Nations Human Rights Commission | Minority Rights Group | FreeMuse
Art Jury Member — Memory in the Present
Geneva, Switzerland
2024
Society of Illustrators | Original Art Show Jury Member
New York City, New York
2023
United Nations Human Rights Commission | Minority Rights Group | FreeMuse
Art Jury Member — Discrimination and Intersectionality
Geneva, Switzerland
2023
29 March 2022
The Strangest Fish written by Katherine Arden | Astra Books for Young Readers
3 September 2024
The Sunflowers | Feiwel and Friends
17 September 2024
[Arabic Translation] Where Butterflies Fill the Sky | Takween Publishing
حيث تملأ الفراشات السماء
21 September 2024
Sakina and the Uninvited Guests | Bloomsbury Publishing NYC
April 2025
My Sister the Apple Tree written by Jamal Saeed and Jordan Scott | Random House
September 2025
Haniya’s Ramadan Garden written by Zeshan Akhter | Walker Books UK
Spring 2027
Fishermans New Year | Bloomsbury Publishing NYC
2027
Soft Sea Rain and Spirits | Enchanted Lion Books
Winter 2027
Arab Art and the Geography of Post Imperialism
Essay: “The Formal Presence of a Stateless Person” on Artist Malak Mattar
Co-Edited by Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi and Patrick M. Kane
Barjeel Art Foundation
Stanford University Press. Cover Art, Belonging on Both Shores: Mobility, Migration, and the Bordering of the Persian Gulf, 2025. Lindsey Stephenson
ArabLit Quarterly Spring 2025 Issue: Grief, Illustration 2025
New York Times Book Review, Illustration 2024
Tangerine Peel: Poem and Art
ArabLit Quarterly Spring 2023: Rain Issue
Memoir: Graphic Essay
ArabLit Quarterly Fall 2022: Weddings Issue
Like Orcas and Tangerines: Glimpses of Statelessness and Belonging
Hyperallergic: Sensitive to Art and its Discontents
27 March 2022
Los Angeles Times Illustration
2022
Kuwait Research Center. Cover Art for Maritime Folklore of the Gulf by Yacoub AlHajji translated by Yousuf AlBader 2021
ArabLit Quarterly Spring 2021: Song Issue When the Moon Reveals Itself
Institut du Monde Arabe – Araborama
Illustration for Arabs and Poetry, 2020
Between Two Deserts: Visual Vignettes of an Iranian-Kuwaiti Bidoon in New Mexico
Ajam Media Collective
March 2018
With esteemed colleagues National Book Award Finalist Deborah Jackson Taffa, Priyanka Kumar, JJ Amaro Wilson, Carmella Padilla, NYT Bestseller James McGrath Morris, Liz Truplin, Cynthia Sylvester, Pam Lewis, and Lucy Moore
Santa Fe, New Mexico
2024-2026
Fellowship-in-Residence
Acequia Madre House – Women’s International Study Center
Santa Fe, New Mexico
2023
Art in US Embassies Collection
US Diplomat’s Residence
Baghdad, Iraq
2022
Tamarind Institute Public Art Lithography Commission collaboration with Printer Brian Wagner
in partnership with the City of Albuquerque
May 2021
Art in US Embassies Collection
US Diplomat’s Residence
Kuwait
2021
Bernalillo County Public Art Collection
New Mexico
2019
Artist-in-Residence at
Sheikh Abdullah Al–Salem Cultural Centre
Salmiya, Kuwait
2019
City of Albuquerque Art Collection Purchase
Albuquerque, New Mexico
2018
Centre des Arts – International School of Geneva & OHCHR Group Exhibit
Geneva, Switzerland
8 November – 18 December 2024
Society of Illustrators Original Art Exhibit
New York City
November 2024
Rose is a Rose is a Rose – Solo Exhibit
Hecho a Mano
Santa Fe, New Mexico
5 July – 29 July 2024
Neuvo Mexicano Heritage Arts Museum | Spanish Colonial Arts Society
The Ugly History of Beautiful Things Group Exhibit
Santa Fe, New Mexico
10 May 2024 – 27 December 2024
2023
Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art
Picturing Home — Exhibit
9 August to 31 December 2023
Ezra Jack Keats Award Ceremony
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
13 April 2023
Om Kalthoum, the Sidra Tree, and the Witch: Shared Memories
of Adailiya — In collaboration with Huda Al-AbdulMughni
Shuwaikh Port, Kuwait
1 February 2023
2022
Where Butterflies Fill the Sky Book Launch
Encompass, Harwood Art Center
Albuquerque, New Mexico
2 April 2022
Solo Exhibit | Pickled Dreams: Torshi and Kurkum
Hecho Gallery
Santa Fe, New Mexico
3 June 2022
UN Human Rights Commission Award Ceremony
Palais Eynard
Geneva, Switzerland
3 November 2022
Original Art Show – Picture Books
Dilys Evans Founders Award Recipient
Society of Illustrators
New York, New York
10 December 2022
New York Times | New York Public Library
Best Illustrated Books of 2022 Award Ceremony
The New York Public Library – Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Trustees Room
New York, New York
15 November 2022
2021
Compass Roses: Maps by Artists | In collaboration with the City of Albuquerque
South Broadway Cultural Center
Albuquerque, New Mexico
22 April 2021
Art in US Embassies | Ambassador Romanowski
Den Gallery
Kuwait City, Kuwait
July 11 – July 18
Tamarind Institute Public Art Lithography Reception and Signing
Albuquerque, New Mexico
22 July 2021
Crocodile Tobacco Flowers
Harwood Art Center Front Gallery
Albuquerque, New Mexico
August 2021
Watermelon After Lunch
Cinema La Compagnia | Cartavetra Contemporary Art Gallery
Middle East Now Film Festival
Florence, Italy
September – October 2021
2020
Watermelon after Lunch
Middle East Now Film Festival
Florence, Italy
31 March 2020 (Postponed, Coronavirus)
Standing Mobility
Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Centre
Salmiya, Kuwait
20 April, 2020 (Postponed, Coronavirus)
Bologna Book Fair
dPICTUS Unpublished Picturebook Showcase Feature
Bologna, Italy
4 – 7 May 2020 (Postponed, Coronavirus)
City of Albuquerque Open Space Gallery
Albuquerque, New Mexico
16 May 2020 (Postponed, Coronavirus)
Museum at Home – The Resilience Project
516Arts
Art Installation | Windows in the Future
Organized by 516 Arts, Vital Spaces, Paseo Project
Albuquerque | Santa Fe | Taos
July 2020
International Balloon Museum–Balloon Fiesta Exhibit
Albuquerque, New Mexico
September 2020
Albuquerque Art Museum
Large-Format Artist–ArtsThrive Annual Exhibit
Albuquerque, New Mexico
October 2020
2019
City of Santa Fe Art’s Commission Gallery
Silk Purse | Sow’s Ear 15 March 2019
Santa Fe, New Mexico
What’s Your Street Race | Identity as Perceived by Authority
Projection in Vacant Lot Barelas, Albuquerque, New Mexico
4 April 2019
DAI Museum, Yarmouk Cultural Centre | Abolish 153 annual Exhibit
Yarmouk, Kuwait 27 April 2019
Zeri Crafts | Open House, Selected Works
Salmiya, Kuwait April 2019
Erna Fergusson Library | Enchantment Show
Albuquerque, New Mexico June 8, 2019
Venice Art Factory + Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre
Group Exhibit : Schola dell’Arte dei Tiraoro e Battioro
Venice, Italy June 2019
Somerset House | London, England
AOI Exhibit — Shortlisted Illustrations
July 11-28
Albuquerque Zine Fest | National Hispanic Cultural Center
5 October 2019
ArtsThrive: Albuquerque Art Museum
20 October 2019
Fish in Persian Gardens | Poetry and Literature as Revolt
Sanitary Tortilla Factory, solo exhibit
December 2019
2018
When Life Becomes Floral, Solo Exhibit
Harwood Art Center
January 2018
THE Magazine Contemporary Art + Culture
3 image series, February thru April. Santa Fe, New Mexico
Oddities of Day to Day Life, Solo Exhibit
Zendo Coffee Shop
Albuquerque, New Mexico
February 2018
A RIVER FLOWING: Contemporary Women Artists
East of West Gallery
Santa Fe, New Mexico
23 February 2018
Abolish 153
HUB Gallery. Al-Sharq, Kuwait
14 April 2018
Because it’s Time: Unraveling Race and Place in NM Group Exhibit
National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum
4 May 2018
On Studying Dance, Solo Show
Maple Street Dance Studio, Albuquerque, New Mexico
22 September 2018
ArtsThrive: Albuquerque Art Museum
October 20, 2018
South Broadway Cultural Center
Dia de los Muertos Group Show
28 October 2018
Prelude
Harwood Art Center
19 November 2018
12 x 12 Exhibit
Fundraiser Exhibit
Harwood Art Center
1 December 2018
New Mexico Cancer Center Group Exhibit
7 December 2018
Sales supporting income of patients
2017
On Dreams and Memories, solo show
El Chante Casa de Cultura
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Zahra Marwan + Kat Kinnick
Ruminations and Remnants. Rio Grande Community Farm
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Zahra Marwan + Kat Kinnick
Ruminations and Remnants. Stranger’s Collective.
Santa Fe, New Mexico
ArtsThrive, Albuquerque Art Museum
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Form and Concept
Guns to Art Benefit Show.
Santa Fe, New Mexico
