This year, many of us have made it our resolution to spend more time reading books rather than be constantly fixated on our phones.
To get you back in the swing of things we have put together a list of six books written by female Arab authors that will captivate you to a point where you’d whizz through every chapter in one go. It is important that we shine a light on Arab female authors, giving them the recognition they deserve. These powerful stories they tell to the world, allow us to gain insight into these women’s lives; opening our eyes to a perspective we have never before heard. These story lines are set in the past as well as the modern day and cover everything from women’s rights, politics, war and true stories of love. – A book for everyone to read.
1. Maryam, Keeper of Stories, by Alawiyya Sobh (2016)
This is a highly acclaimed book set during the Lebanese civil war, captivating the hearts of readers where pain becomes love through Alawiya Sobh’s written words. She creates an experience of the truthfulness behind everyday life in Lebanon at that moment of time. This book gives women’s stories a chance to be heard, and portrays how it felt to live during this era of simmering tension. The story arises complex queries of memory and identity containing a beautiful synopsis of suspending conflict and violent struggles with the cruelties of politics. BUY HERE.
2. The Beauty of Your Face BY SAhar mustafah (2020)
A story of a Palestinian American woman wrestling with her faith, loss and identity before coming face-to-face with a horrifying school shooter in a fiery debut. A uniquely told story of life in America written powerfully by Lebanese author Sahar Mustafah. The Beauty of Your Face navigates a country growing more divided than ever before. Afaf Rahman, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, is the principal teacher of Nurrideen School for Girls, a Muslim school in Chicago. BUY HERE.
3. Always Coca-Cola by Alexandra Chreiteh (2011)
This book is a witty insight into the curious mind of a Lebanese woman and the way she views the world that surrounds her. Throughout this novel there is scrutiny on multinational brands that colonise and portray women’s bodies through commercial products. Throughout the book, there is an absurd take on the deliberate marketing of major corporate brands such as Coca-Cola, Always and Starbucks. Even as Abeer is being attacked by a man, she sees a Coca-Cola advertisement loom crazily over his shoulder. A quirky must-read book. BUY HERE.
4.The Tiller of Waters by Hoda Barakat (2001)
This truly exhilarating novel will take you on a journey recollecting hallucinations of a man in devastated Beirut. The desolate and almost surreal urban landscape is enriched by the unfolding of the family sagas of Mitri and his beloved Shamsa, the Kurdish maid. Mitri reminisces about his Egyptian mother and his father who came back to settle in Beirut after a long stay in Egypt. BUY HERE.
5. Bad Girls of the Arab World (2017)
This collection of stories is about Arabic women’s transgressions – of all kinds, from transgressing gender roles to class roles, and how those transgressions can manifest their labels as “bad girls.” It includes short reflective and academic pieces, written by Arab women from different ages, classes, and educational backgrounds, from the Middle Eastern and North Africa region. The book is an exploration of the different inter-sectional experiences that women have been through as they grew up as Arab females, and how they end up being perceived in a global and regional discourse. BUY HERE.
6. The greater FReedom by alya mooro (2019)
The Greater Freedom is about being the greater version of who you actually are. It looks at living your life while fulfilling your potential without holding back from fear. Alya Mooro is an Egyptian Born writer who grew up in London and you can see the pull between two cultures she was torn by reflected within her work. Today, Alya Mooro is determined to explore and diminish the myth that she must identify between being ‘Western.’
