OUR BLOG

Head Above Water: Shahd Alshammari Exploring the Disabled Body
April 27, 2022
This week is Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week which runs from 25th April to 1st May. It provides an opportunity to highlight what is often an invisible and misunderstood condition, currently affectin…
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In Conversation with Shahd Alshammari, author of Head Above Water.
April 19, 2022
From her research on illness narratives and disability studies comes a thoughtful reflection on a personal journey with Multiple Sclerosis. Kuwaiti-Palestinian author and academic, Dr Shahd Alshammari…
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What is Multiple Sclerosis, an insight into Shahd Alshammari’s Head Above Water.
March 18, 2022
Shahd Alshammari’s upcoming memoir, Head Above Water takes us into intimate conversations on illness and society’s stigmatization of disabled bodies. We are invited to ask the big questions about life…
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Female Authors and Characters that inspire us on International Women’s Day 2022.
March 8, 2022
This International Women’s Day we are spotlighting some of our favourite female characters and authors that inspire us. From Sara in The Three Hares: The Jade Dragonball to Pâtca in The Book of Perilo…
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Interview with Literary Translator James Christian Brown
February 21, 2022
To celebrate International Mother-Language Day we interviewed literary translator James Christian Brown. He tells us all about his journey into becoming a book translator, his recent work translating…
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Q&A with Doina Rusti, author of The Book of Perilous Dishes.
February 17, 2022
With less than one month until the publication day for The Book of Perilous Dishes, we wanted to celebrate by interviewing Doina Rusti all about her journey as an author, the inspiration behind this d…
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Coping With The Loss Of A Loved One This Christmas
December 13, 2021
There’s nothing quite like spending time with loved ones in the Christmas holidays. The festive season is for gathering together with family and friends. But for others, the holidays can be an incre…
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16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence
December 10, 2021
Over the last sixteen days Hira Ali has been sharing key tips on her Instagram (@advancingyourpotential) from her latest book Her Allies: A Practical Toolkit to Help Men Lead Through Advocacy. She’s u…
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We love to read more about the topics our authors write about or just explore interesting news items! Here are some things that have caught our eye recently.

“Shahd’s sensuous prose explores the manipulation of memory, the question of time, and gender politics…intricacies of love, …body, motherhood, the pervasive power of language, the power of women’s education, and synergy between Professor and student. It is a brave book.” – Jokha Alharthi, Author of Celestial Bodies, winner of the International Man Booker Prize
Read more (Disability Research Forum)
Interviewing Doina Ruști and James Christian Brown: The Book of Perilous Dishes
Doina Rusti tells us about her process of writing to appreciate how the magic of Bucharest took form, and how always history hides in literature, while James Brown shares his experience as first a reader and then a translator of this delightful Romanian novel.
Read more (The Publishing Post)The Ideal Woman: How Can Women Embrace Their Womanhood While Being Under The Male Gaze?
Interview with Shahd Alshammari on the Ideal Woman: How Can Women Embrace Their Womanhood While Being Under The Male Gaze?
Read more (Wordgathering.com)
The Diary of A Debut Novelist
Debut author Jenna Adams offers an insight into the behind-the-scenes of a writer’s process.
Read more (The Book Network)
Disabled people exist everywhere – so why aren’t more books written about us?
Shahd Alshammari could not find role models for disabled Arab women in literature, so she set out to write a book that helped tell her story. She felt a need to correct this gap in literature but she also wanted to see more raw stories about those struggling to fit into societies geared towards the able-bodied.
Read more (The National News)
A Kuwaiti Professor Makes Disability Awareness Part of Her Teaching
The voices of people with disabilities are too often absent among scholars and researchers, Alshammari told Al-Fanar Media in an interview via Zoom.
Read more (Al Fanar Media)
An Introduction to The Book of Perilous Dishes by Doina Rusti
Author Doina Rusti introduces The Book of Perilous Dishes, translated by James Christian Brown.
Read more (YouTube)
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