Hanan S. Kanaan, of Lebanese descent, was born in Kuwait on the 14th of July, 1969, a middle daughter of a large family. She had to start working from the early age of 18, soon after her graduation, to help support her large family due to the unfortunate death of her father, two years before she graduated.
With no relatives, and not much of a social life in Kuwait, she felt very lonely. A situation which diverted her attention to reading books; fiction, biography, short stories, novels - any reading material, she could lay her hands on. She would create her own stories and narrate them to her siblings, making them believe that the story has been extracted from a famous book and written by an equally famous author.
She was 15 when she first read Simone de Beauvoir's, 'Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter', which had a great effect over her. She saw herself as the object of the story and felt that the author narrated her own feelings, ambitions and thoughts - all what made up her own dreams. It was then that she realized she wanted to be a writer. She started to participate in her school's story contests, and her teachers were very proud of her winning those competitions.
Once during the hot summer of 1986, she found herself suddenly without any book/story to read, so she decided to write her own novel entitled 'Love and Crime'. Proud and happy with her work, she took it to one of the local magazine publishers hoping to publish it. Unfortunately, the editing secretary advised her that they don't publish for young and new writers.
Sixteen years later, while working as a secretary in a commercial establishment, she found a Newspaper that was looking for a secretary and she grabbed that as opportunity to enter the Journalism field. She did manage to publish her short stories in that newspaper as well as writing social articles concerning family and women issues. However, she had to stop later because of reactions to her work.
" I'm a very romantic person whose life is filled with dreams, I find myself more happy with children more than adults; I enjoy watching Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Shrek etc. with my two daughters, without getting bored at all."
Kanaan's work:
The Curse of the Slaves - Ages 8 to 12
takes place in a small Greek Village, where an ancient curse is revived by a mysterious visitor, and causes havoc and potential disaster for all the adults that intervene.
Only Anna Marie and the children of the village are capable of breaking the curse and saving their parents from an eternal state of non-existence.
All Greece depends on the bravery and ingenuity of these children.
The Jewel of Love - Age 8 to 15
"This time, in "The Jewel of Love," I take you to Egypt, over a century ago, where a girl named Reba must travel with her new friend Jassim, and an ancient Egyptian guide, Prince Khato, through the various lands of the Afterlife, so that she can meet her lost parents again and fulfill an ancient Queen's vow. Although my story starts in Egypt, Reba's adventures take her half way around the world, to Tampa, Florida and all the way to Death Valley, California! "
