Trees For The Absentees - Softcover

Bsharat, Ahlam; Ahmedzai Kemp, Ruth; Copeland, Sue

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1911107232 ISBN 13: 9781911107231

Publisher: Neem Tree Press, 2019

Synopsis

Young love, meddling relatives, heart-to-hearts with friends real and imagined - Philistia’s world is that of an ordinary university student, except that in occupied Palestine, and when your father is in indefinite detention, nothing is straightforward.

Philistia is closest to her childhood, and to her late grandmother and her imprisoned father, when she’s at her part-time job washing women’s bodies at the ancient Ottoman hammam in Nablus, the West Bank. A midwife and corpse washer in her time, Grandma Zahia taught Philistia the ritual ablutions and the secrets of the body: the secrets of life and death.

On the brink of adulthood, Philistia embarks on a journey through her country’s history – a magical journey, and one of loss and centuries of occupation.

As trees are uprooted around her, Philistia searches for a place of refuge, a place where she can plant a memory for the ones she’s lost.

About this title

About the Author

Ahlam Bsharat is a Palestinian writer who grew up in a village in Northern Palestine. She completed her Master’s Degree in Arabic Literature at An-Najah National University in Nablus. Besides poetry, picture books, short stories, novels and memoirs, she has written a number of television and radio scripts. Her books have received many awards and recommendations. Ismee Alharakee Farasha (translated into English as Code Name:Butterfly) was included in the IBBY Honour List for 2012, a biennial selection of outstanding, recently published books from more than seventy countries. Ismee Alharakee Farasha and Ashjaar lil-Naas al-Ghaa’ibeen (translated into English as Trees for the Absentees) were both runners-up for the Etisalat Award For Arabic Children’s Literature in 2013. Code Name: Butterfly was also shortlisted for the UKbased Palestine Book Awards in 2017. Ahlam has been active in numerous cultural forums, and her craft has taken her to Belgium, France and Spain, where she was artist in residence. She has also led many creative writing workshops for children and adults, including at the Emirates Literature Festival in Dubai.

Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp is a British literary translator working from German, Russian and Arabic into English. She has translated novels by Fadi Zaghmout, Hanna Winter, Kathrin Rohmann and Yulia Yakovleva. Ruth graduated from the University of Oxford in 2003 and completed an MA in Translation and Interpreting at the University of Bath. She most of all loves translating fiction, nonfiction (particularly history, travel and nature) and children's books.

Translator

Edition details

• Publisher: Neem Tree Press
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1911107232
• ISBN 13: 9781911107231
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96