Gender 101
The Man of Middling Height
What if our society’s deepest prejudices weren’t about race, gender, or sexuality—but height? In his groundbreaking allegorical novel, acclaimed Jordanian author and activist Fadi Zaghmout imagines just such a world, crafting a powerful meditation on discrimination and desire that speaks directly to our contemporary debates about identity and inclusion.
The Man of Middling Height follows a short dressmaker whose life is upended when she meets Tallan, a man whose middle height places him outside the rigid tall/short binary that governs their society. As their forbidden romance blossoms, they must navigate a world where height determines everything from social status to romantic possibilities. Through their story and those of surrounding characters—including a short person in a polyamorous relationship with two tall partners, and a tall activist who scandalously loves another tall person—Zaghmout deftly reframes contemporary discussions about gender identity and sexuality through the lens of height discrimination.
Forthcoming in August 2025 by Syracuse University Press.
** For other languages translation rights, contact me directly: fadizaghmout@yahoo.com
ORDER YOUR COPY
The Man of Middling Height
Overall, this novel richly exploits science fiction’s great capacity to imagine the otherwise and denaturalize what seems inevitable and natural.
Kyle R. Garton – Strange Horizons
A Review on Strange Horizons
Overall, this novel richly exploits science fiction’s great capacity to imagine the otherwise and denaturalize what seems inevitable and natural. The adventurous analogy between height and gender will surely provoke much discussion, and—hopefully!—controversy. This might be my own bias as an academic, but in addition to being a good read for any speculative fiction fan, I think this would be an especially excellent book to assign in a college course in literature or Gender Studies as a way of bringing feminist theory to life.
Blurbs
Zaghmout’s The Man of Middling Height is a fascinating and thought provoking look at the dangers of dividing humans and the power of language to frame how we see ourselves.
— Abdi Nazemian, Stonewall and Lambda Award Winning author of Like a Love Story and Only This Beautiful Moment
Zaghmout’s ingenious satirical concept sets out to do for gender injustice what Majorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses set out to do for racism.
—Patrick Gale, author of the bestselling novel Take Nothing With You
The Man of Middling Height is original and of great importance.
— Omar Sayfo, author of Allah’s Spacious Earth
حفل إطلاق رواية إبرة وكشتبان
“It’s stunning, violent, and too close to the reality of our times. It is one that invites reflection & an open mind. A mighty success.”
BookFabulous
Published: 2020
Publisher: Dar Al Ahleyya
تدور أحداث الرواية في مجتمع خيالي يكون فيه التقسيم النوعي الأساسي للبشر حسب طول قامتهم. في هذا العالم تتشكل هوية الفرد وتتوزع الصفات والأدوار الاجتماعية حسب طول القامة. تدور أحداث الرواية حول قصة حب تجمع بين الخياطة قصيرة القامة وطولان متوسّط الطول المنبوذ اجتماعيّاً.
The novel is thought provoking as it introduces gender related issues in a clever innovative and visionary setting.
Daughters of Ever Club
Audio Book
Safahat Sowt
Ebra wa Kushtuban is the first audio book to be released by pioneering regional podcasts content production company Sowt. It was released under Safahat Sowt platform. Narrated by Jordanian talented actress Lana Nasser.
My keynote during Nuqat Regional Conference in Kuwait 2019
Selected Reviews from goodreads
Needle and Thimble (my translation) is a fascinating read where the writer replaces height for gender in the world, creating a deliberately exaggerated mockery of commonly accepted norms. In trying to conceptualize the challenging idea, you become amused as you discover the height is not allocated according to gender per se. You can have tall men and women and short women and men. However, social expectations are assigned by height, not gender. So the shortest members become the leaders and are encouraged to be ’rounded’ by being allowed more food, and the tall can only marry the short. This notion is thought-provoking and leaves you questioning the currently accepted norms. Freedom of choice is a concurrent idea that flows through the novel and is debated intensely amongst the characters. Fadi Zogmout presents a parallel world of possibilities and options which are still in limbo in our current world.
Lara16
Fadi reached new height of creativity by transcending us to a an imaginary world to be able to rethink gender roles in our society. In his plot, he divides gender between short and tall rather than woman and man. His characters draw this world in the dialogue form that Fadi excels in , and open provoking thoughts in how gender is divided. A must read as it is a fresh take on gender discussion and cannot with to his talks as it will surely stir controversy. All done in a beautiful love story that holds the book together
Ash Fahmy
An imaginary world where human societies are divided by height rather than gender! Fadi used symbolism to convey complex ideas without using a ton of words, very thought-provoking and engaging. Fadi’s ingenuity in making us feel deeply for his characters while tackling such a taboo issue for lots of people in our society. But nothing equals that aha moment when you connect the dots… Fadi’s imagination goes way and beyond that he even created a whole new language for this imaginary world of his. Highly recommended
Hani Yakan
Photo from the session at the Emirates Literature Festival 2022
Fadi Zaghmout 