ARTIST STATEMENT

My name is Heba Klein and I am a writer. I mainly base my stories on things I have been through, places I have been, songs, people I’ve met, people I haven’t met yet and most importantly, mental health because I struggle immensely with mine. I’m a child of Sudanese immigrants and it impacted my writing.
What I do is write about what I know best: my culture, art, love, and of course, borderline personality disorder because I’ve had the misfortune of being diagnosed with it. I try my best to shed light on how hard it is to deal with BPD: intense mood swings, suicidal tendencies, having an identity crisis every other hour and so on. I want other people to talk about it too without fearing what other people might think and to know that they aren’t alone. I want people to read what I write and find comfort in my words. I don’t want them to feel alone. My style of writing is  inspired by The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath,  A Million Little Pieces by James frey and Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel. Love is also a recurring topic because who doesn’t crave it?
It’s important for me that the main character is Sudanese. Growing up, I never read books with characters that resembled me and my culture. I want another Sudanese girl to see herself in my story, to know that she’s not alone and that she will be okay. Mental health, love, sexuality, substance abuse isn’t talked about in the sudanese community. I shed light on that, how hard it is to talk to your people about it as well and how they don’t really get it.