We are excited to host Bushra Rehman, author of Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion on Saturday, March 16 at 6:30 at Hugh’s View. Prior to hearing from her in person, we had the opportunity to ask a few questions:
Q: Would you tell us a little about Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion and what you hope readers will get out of it?
A: Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion is a story about female friendship and queer desire in a Pakistani-American community. The main character, Razia grows up amid the wild grape vines and backyard sunflowers of Corona, Queens, with her best friends by her side. As she and her friends get older, 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 high school in Manhattan, the gulf between her and her world in Queens, between the person she is and the daughter her parents want her to be widens. At her new school, Razia meets Angela, an Italian-Greek girl, and is attracted to her in a way that blossoms into a new understanding.
Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion is a book for anyone who’s ever had to leave the world they grew up in to be who they needed to be, anyone who’s felt different or struggled with limiting expectations. It’s for those who remember what it was like to be queer and not have the words to express it at first.
Razia is a character I’ve always wanted to see in literature: a young Muslim woman experiencing both her Muslim spirituality and her queer desires. I’ve rarely seen three-dimensional portrayals of us as Muslim women or of our families: our love, resilience, and humor. I hope Roses lessens that void.
Q: For you, as a poet and a fiction writer, what do you feel your work as a poet brings to your fiction?
A: The seed of Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion was a series of poems I wrote about the beauty of Corona. I wanted to share both the danger and the joy of what it felt like to grow up there. As the poems started to become a novel, the character of Razia Mirza emerged. Even when the poems morphed into fiction, I treated each sentence as a line of poetry. This is probably why it took forever to write this book.
Q: Sense of place appears to be incredibly important to your work (the New York Public Library named Corona, your prior novel, one of its favorite books about the city), what do you find yourself noticing or paying attention to about other places as you travel?
A: I love to travel, and I treat all travel like a journey. I love going to oceans, mountains, rivers and forests. When I travel to towns, I love visiting bookstores and public parks. Wherever I go, I like to spend time walking, observing and journaling. And what I love about Key West is it’s an adventure of a walking island with deep literary history.
Q: And on a similar point, what are you looking forward to doing or seeing in Key West?
A: I’m excited to see the sunsets in Key West, to eat food at local restaurants, to soak in the sunshine (it’s been a grim winter in NY!) and to meet up with old and new friends. I’m so honored and excited to meet readers at Books & Books @ The Studios of Key West and to join in the literary world of Key West.
Thirty years ago, ago, when I was much younger, I used to spend time in Key West with a friends who lived here. I used to get on the Greyhound from NYC! I even wrote a story in which Razia is on the way to Key West. Perhaps this trip will inspire the chapter of what happens next. I’d love to weave in Key West’s distinctive literary history into this story.
Q: Is there anything you’d like to share about works in progress or upcoming publications?
A: I’ve been writing about the adventures of Razia after the ending of Roses. The Key West story is one of these stories. There are also stories that take place at a Puritan village in Salem, Massachusetts, and in the Strand bookstore in NYC. In the Strand story, Razia has just returned to NYC and gets a job at the Strand. The year is 1989 and The Satanic Verses controversy is raging. While other stores stop carrying the book, the Strand continues to sell it. Razia is swept up into protests, counter-protests and debates on freedom of expression that are marred by Islamophobia. She finds solace in her mentors at the Strand, including the iconic bookseller Ben McFall.
Q: What are you reading and recommending these days?
A: I’m currently reading and recommending Ibtisam Barakat’s A Palestinian Childhood, Kamilah Aisha Moon’s She Has a Name and Starshine & Clay, Noor Hindi’s Dear God. Dear Bones. Dear Yellow, Mosab Abu Toha’s Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear, the collection A Light in Gaza, and Lamya H’s Hijab Butch Blues.
I also love recommending books which influenced me early on: Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Toni Morison’s Song of Solomon, Audre Lorde’s Black Unicorn and Sister Outsider, Vijay Prashad’s Karma of Brown Folk, Sharon Olds’s The Dead and the Living and Satan Says, Dorothy Allison’s Bastard out of Carolina and of course Judy Blume’s books especially, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. I related so much to Margaret who has her own relationship with the divine. I saw myself in her. I hope readers will feel the same about Razia.
Friday, April 19, at 6pm, a presentation and book signing with Jason Dewees, author of DESIGNING WITH PALMS.
The book includes beautiful photos of gardens and native palm habitat in South Florida from Miami to Key West to Naples, as well as in California, South Carolina, Georgia, and Hawai`i. Celebrated Miami landscape architect, Raymond Jungles, said about the book, “Contains virtually everything you need to know about these plants and their usage in gardens. This is the go-to book.”
Q: How did you and Meg Wolitzer come to write this novel together?
Happy New Year!
Camila Duke’s introduction to ELSEY COME HOME, and get some background on our visiting authors. Find out how Bethany Ball and Spencer Wise feel about doing events together and how Cailin Kunkel and her co-authors turned an 800-word web post into a 10,000-word book.
And when you get down to the wire this holiday season, we’ll be here for you. Note our extended hours (10 am – 8 pm) Friday, Dec. 21 to Monday, Dec. 24. We’re going to take Christmas off for a long winter’s nap.
Tuesday, December 18, at 6pm, Rosalind Brackenbury in conversation with Jessica Argyle about The Lost Love Letters of Henri Fournier, Brackenbury’s most recent novel. She will sign books following the author talk.
Through Pauline’s love letters, her secrets, and a lost Fournier manuscript, Seb will come to learn so much more – about Pauline, Henri, and himself. For Seb, every moment of Pauline’s past proves to be more inspiring than he could have imagined. She’s given him the courage to grab hold of whatever life offers, to cherish each risk, and to pursue love in his life.
No red/orange leaves here, but summer is over and we are jumping into an exciting fall/winter season of bookstore events. Kick October off with the opening reception for the second annual art contest on Oct. 4, followed by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jack E. Davis, discussing his book The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea on Friday, Oct. 5. Friday, Oct. 12, will feature an all-ages event, Newbery award-winning author Kwame Alexander and guitarist Randy Preston.
Friday, October 12 at 6pm, a reading, performance and book signing with Kwame Alexander, author of SWING. The event will also feature Randy Preston on guitar as Kwame gives one of his trademark performances from his brand new novel-in-verse, Swing.
“At some point in life, we all seek to discover our voice, who we are, and how to love,” said Kwame Alexander. “Swing follows the journey of two teen boys on the edge of adulthood who are in the midst of this struggle. This book is about love and acceptance—of self and others. And, this book is about embracing all facets of life and being present in those moments. When a reader finishes Swing, I hope they find a bit more self-acceptance and a willingness to open themselves up to others.”
Simon Winchester’s Atlantic” (Dallas Morning News), Jack E. Davis’s The Gulf is “by turns informative, lyrical, inspiring and chilling for anyone who cares about the future of ‘America’s Sea’ ” (Wall Street Journal). Illuminating America’s political and economic relationship with the environment from the age of the conquistadors to the present, Davis demonstrates how the Gulf’s fruitful ecosystems and exceptional beauty empowered a growing nation. Filled with vivid, untold stories from the sportfish that launched Gulfside vacationing to Hollywood’s role in the country’s first offshore oil wells, this “vast and welltold story shows how we made the Gulf . . . [into] a ‘national sacrifice zone’ ” (Bill McKibben). The first and only study of its kind, The Gulf offers “a unique and illuminating history of the American Southern coast and sea as it should be written” (Edward O. Wilson).
Hi Bookfriends,
in each, the writing sings and the characters are unforgettable. Each deals in its own way with obsession – in Marlena, a friendship – in Stephen Florida, college wrestling. But the take is so original you feel you’ve never read this story before.