Description
Winner of The Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature
Winner of the 2020 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation
A novel of enormous power and great beauty, in which a Palestinian woman raised in a refugee camp learns to sew which helps her to construct a life
Hawwa is a child of the grinding hardship of a Palestinian refugee camp. She has had to survive the camp itself, as well as the humiliation and destruction of an abusive family. But now, in her middle years something most unexpected has happened: she has fallen in love.
Velvet unfolds over a day in Hawwa's life, as she makes plans for a new beginning. She sifts through her memories: stories of her family, her childhood, and her beloved mentor, Sitt Qamar, who among other gifts, taught her to sew, and most importantly, taught her to value herself. Velvet is the story of one woman's resilience, her unyielding sensuality, and the enduring bonds that make living bearable.
About the Author
Huzama Habayeb is a Palestinian writer who was born and raised in Kuwait, where she started writing and publishing short stories, poetry, and journalistic pieces as a student. When the Gulf War erupted in 1990, she fled to Jordan and established her reputation as a short-story writer. Her first novel, Root of Passion, was published in 2007 to wide critical acclaim. Velvet is her third novel and her first to be available in English.
Kay Heikkinen is a translator and academic who holds a PhD from Harvard University and is currently Ibn Rushd Lecturer of Arabic at the University of Chicago. Among other books, she has translated Naguib Mahfouz's In the Time of Love and Radwa Ashour's The Woman From Tantoura.
Reviews
"As sensuous, smooth, and strong as the fabric that gives the novel its title." --Humphrey Davies, translator of
The Yacoubian Building "A novel crammed with love and loss. . . .this book is so fully lived as to be magnetic." --Marcia Lynx Qualey,
Words without Borders "An original voice who brings vividly to life Palestinian camps with extraordinary beauty and lyricism."--Tahia Abdel Nasser, The American University in Cairo
"This novel is a place where love, dejection, transgression and embrace converge."--from the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature Award citation
"Passionate....bursting with sensory detail."--
The National "Perhaps the most important, Palestinian novel by the second generation of Palestine's writers."--Sabry Hafez on
Before the Queen Falls Asleep in Arabic
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