About Tim Elhajj
Tim Elhajj is a writer in the Pacific Northwest. He lives near Phantom Lake with his wife, two elementary school kids, and a dog. Prior to moving west, Tim lived in New York City where he earned a BA from Hunter College.
Tim’s creative non-fiction essays have appeared in the New York Times and Brevity. He is currently working on a coming-of-age memoir, his first book-length creative project.
Tim shares his name with his oldest son.
About This Site
This site is a good way for Tim to share pictures and stories with family back home, but it’s also good way to keep track of the progress he’s making on his memoir. Here you’ll find true stories and essays, as well as links to anything he’s published.
Tim studied with Louise DeSalvo and Alice Sebold as an undergrad. He has been working on a coming-of-age memoir for longer than he cares to admit. The plan is to write three novel-length memoirs: the current project, another about an enlistment gone horribly awry, and a third about what happened in NYC. In one sense or another, all these projects are about growing up. Tim likes to think he may be the first memoirst to write a coming-of-age trilogy!
About the Name Elhajj
Elhajj is an Arabic word that means pilgrim.
Some Arabs spell it al-Hajj and still others spell it El Haj. Aunt Birdie once told Tim that she changed the name in grade school to make it seem more American. She simply refused to add the space between the El and the Hajj on any school papers she authored. Soon all her siblings followed suit.
At first Tim balked at this story, but self-reinvention is a particularly American ideal.
Contact
Blog comments are always appreciated, but sometimes it makes more sense to write an e-mail: tim@telhajj.com
And you can always add a comment to the wall.
