I’m writing and seeking a publisher for an eclectic, textured collection of essays about Jordan and Israel/Palestine. Based on my decade of experience in the Middle East, some essays are memoir mixed with reporting; others are compressed, lyrical pieces. Through friendships with Jordanian, Palestinian, Syrian, and Iraqi women, I aim to highlight Arab women’s stories, while also describing life as a foreigner here. My essays spring from direct interactions in Arabic, and develop through spiritually sensitive explorations of culture. My hope is to create a volume that will resonate both with short-term visitors to the region and long-term expatriates in the region.
writing & reporting
Anthrow Circus
“Young Afghan Dreams: Three Sisters Share Their Artwork–and Future Hopes,” introductory text to documentary by W.H., June 19, 2023
“Exploring Palestinian Identity in Jordan’s Baqa’a Camp,” April 3, 2023, with artwork by Haifa Abu Khdair
“Shepherding Goats With a Jordanian Bedouin,” July 26, 2022
“Yalda: An Afghan Winter Story,” text with mixed-media video by Till We Have Faces, February 21, 2022
“‘I Was Raised Under the Trees’: Olive Harvest in Jordan,” November 22, 2021
“My Neighbors From Myanmar Taught Me to Receive,” April 5, 2021
“An Introduction to Arabic Poetry: Poet Nizar Qabbani,” text with video by Zaher Al Zaher, October 12, 2020
“Trauma-Informed Art-Making: An Interview,” interview with Sarah Racine, July 27, 2020
“View from a Pandemic: Amman, Jordan,” June 4, 2020
“The Conundrum of Return to Syria,” November 8, 2019, with artwork by Rahaf Adnan Oudah
“The Living Desert,” June 24, 2019
“Books Are Like Water: The 24-Hour Book Shop,” February 18, 2019
“A Painted Street in Jabal Amman,” September 10, 2018
“Returning Home to Inspiration,” July 16, 2018
“#HijabFashion,” March 19, 2018
“On Choosing One’s Neighbors,” October 16, 2017
EthnoTraveler (apologies for the broken links! 9-9-23)
“Following the Map in My Feet,” December 2019
“For His 30th Birthday, a Norwegian Blogger Hopes to Visit Every Country on Earth,” February 2019
“Things Could Get Crazy,” December 2018
“The Dream of Fluency,” September 2018
“The Most Important Blessing Is Bread,” July 2018
RedFence Magazine
“The Best Tea for…Avoiding Caffeine,” Spring 2017
Interview with author Joni Tevis, Winter 2016
“The Best Tea for…Surviving Chiberia,” Winter 2015
“The Best Tea for…Making Friends,” Summer 2014
“The Best Tea for…Having a Baby,” Spring 2014
“The Wet Collection,” book review, Winter 2014
Miscellany
“From Dust to Lunch: Jordanian Christians Decry Cost of Funeral Feast,” Christianity Today article by Jayson Casper, with reporting contributed by myself, September 7, 2023
“From Dogs to Deserts, Brenda’s Journey to Finding Home in Wadi Rum,” Jordan News, June 30, 2023
Creative Non-Fiction
“This Is a Segregated Wedding,” The Palisades Review, forthcoming, September 2023
“The Running, Dancing God: On the New York City Ballet & Coming Home to the Father,” Ekstasis (a publication of Christianity Today), Winter Collection Part 2, 2023
“Slowly, Slowly,” Brevity, Issue 72, January 2023
“Syrian Women,” Belmont Story Review, Fall 2022
“Chasing Sunbirds,” Catamaran, Winter 2022, nominated for a Pushcart Prize
“Say Trinity,” The Other Journal, Issue 30 (“Reimagination”), September 9, 2021
“Desert,” LETTERS, Yale’s journal of literature, art, and spirit, Summer 2021
“Holy Basil, Center Me,” Still Point Arts Quarterly, Winter 2020
“Dispatch from a Pandemic: Amman, Jordan,” Another Chicago Magazine, May 29, 2020
“On the Border,” Nowhere, February 2020
“A Portrait of Baghdad as Beautiful,” Silk Road Review, Vol. 21, Winter 2019
“A Book of Hours,” self-published booklet with illustrations and calligraphy by Nusra Mohammad Oudah & Rahaf Adnan Oudah, printed in Amman, Jordan, May 2019 (first printing, 325 copies; second printing, 250 copies, November 2019)
“I’ll Fly Away,” Cordella 11, Feburary 2019
“Beyond the Jordan,” River Teeth 19.2, April 2018
“Dancing over Bones,” The Windhover, February 2018
Literary city guide for Amman, Jordan, on Eat This Poem, September 2017
“Hallowed Ground,” Rock & Sling, Fall 2014
“I Share a Wall with a Dying Woman,” Ruminate, Winter 2012
“Xavier Meets the Wall,” The Literary Bohemian, Summer 2012
“Sketches of My Dad,” The Prairie Light Review, Spring 2012
“The Door of Hope,” Relief 5.2, Winter 2011
Fiction
“The Life You’ve Got,” Relief, Spring 2019
“The Pistachio Farmer’s Daughter,” Ruminate 48 (second place winner in Janet B. McCabe Short Story Contest), Fall 2018
Before graduating with a B.A. in Print Media in May 2008, I interned at Religion News Service in Washington, D.C., with articles published in places like The Washington Post, USA Today, The Dallas Morning News, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Christian Century (clips appear under byline Heather Donckels).
editing
Guest editor for Anthrow Circus, May & October 2023
Assistant editor for Anthrow Circus (www.anthrowcircus.com), September 2020-present
Proofreader for Anthrow Circus, April 2020-present
Reader/panelist for Ruminate’s annual Janet B. McCabe short story contest, spring 2019
Copy-editor/proofreader for Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., non-fiction department, November 2011-April 2014
Proofreader for Advance magazine, 2012-2014
For the Glory of God, Daniel I. Block, Baker Book House, 2014 (heavy copy-editing)
The Alliance of Jehoshaphat of Judah and Ahab of Israel: A Geopolitical Analysis, M.A. thesis, Chris McKinny, 2011 (proofreading)
Who Teaches Us More Than the Beasts of the Earth? PhD. dissertation, Benjamin Foreman, 2011 (proofreading and formatting)
The Satellite Bible Atlas, William Schlegel, 2009-10 (proofreading)
Heather M. Surls 