She earned a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Jordan in 1983. In 1985, she obtained a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. She then returned to Jordan and worked briefly as a Media Coordinator at the Ministry of Higher Education and the Al al-Bayt Foundation. In 1986, she went back to the UK to complete her postgraduate studies and earned the first Doctorate in the UK in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of East Anglia in 1989. In 2009, St. John’s College at Durham University awarded her a Fellowship in Creative Writing.
She has worked at several universities, including Exeter, Oxford, and the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Durham University, where she established and managed the Master’s program in Women’s Studies.
She was the editor of the "Arab Women Writers" series published by Garnet Publishing, which won the "British Women in Publishing Award" in 1997.