His characters were called Damien, Samantha and Brad. Not entirely unheard of here, but odd enough as a group to raise an eyebrow. While workshopping his story with the class, I asked him why he had not named them Salim or Dala or Bilal. His name, after all, was as Arab as they come. “But Miss,” he replied, incredulous. “I’m not writing about war and bombs and tragedy. Why would I give them such names?”