Books & Books presents

BUSHRA REHMAN
discussing her book
ROSES, IN THE MOUTH OF A LION
(Flatiron Books, $17.99)

Saturday, March 16th, 6:30pm ET
Doors open to Hugh's View at 6pm

CLICK HERE TO READ A Q&A WITH THE AUTHOR IN OUR MARCH 2024 NEWSLETTER

About the book: Razia Mirza grows up amid the wild grape vines and backyard sunflowers of Corona, Queens, with her best friend, Saima, by her side. When a family rift drives the girls apart, Razia’s heart is broken. She finds solace in Taslima, a new girl in her close-knit Pakistani-American community. They embark on a series of small rebellions: listening to scandalous music, wearing miniskirts, and cutting school to explore the city.

When Razia is accepted to Stuyvesant, a prestigious high school in Manhattan, the gulf between the person she is and the daughter her parents want her to be, widens. At Stuyvesant, Razia meets Angela and is attracted to her in a way that blossoms into a new understanding. When their relationship is discovered by an Aunty in the community, Razia must choose between her family and her own future.

Punctuated by both joy and loss, full of ’80s music and beloved novels, Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion is a new classic: a fiercely compassionate coming-of-age story of a girl struggling to reconcile her heritage and faith with her desire to be true to herself.

About the Author: Bushra Rehman grew up in a tight-knit religious community in Queens surrounding one of the first Sunni masjids built in NYC. As a writer, teaching artist and cultural activist, her connection with audiences comes from decades of sharing her distinct brand of storytelling and political dialogue in community gatherings, at theaters, and in universities.

Rehman’s dark comedy, Corona, was chosen by the NY Public Library as one of its favorite books  about NYC. She is co-editor of Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism and author of the collection of poetry Marianna’s Beauty Salon, described by Joseph O. Legaspi as “a love poem for Muslim girls, Queens, and immigrants making sense of their foreign home–and surviving.” Her novel, Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion, is a modern classic about what it means to be Muslim and queer in a Pakistani-American community was chosen as a Best Book and Editor’s Choice by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, People Magazine, Good Morning America, Goodreads,  The Chicago Review, BuzzFeed, Lit Hub, Lambda Literary, BookRiot, PopSugar, The AV Club, E! News, Ms. Magazine and more.

This is an in-person event.
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