About the Book
Selected as Emma Watson's Jan/Feb 2019 pick for her feminist book club, Our Shared Shelf Shortlisted for London's Big Read A Guardian Best Book of the Year Longlisted for The People's Book Prize From established literary heavyweights to emerging spoken word artists, the writers in this ground-breaking collection blow away the narrow image of the 'Muslim Woman'. Hear from users of Islamic Tinder, a disenchanted Maulana working as a TV chat show host and a plastic surgeon blackmailed by MI6. Follow the career of an actress with Middle-Eastern heritage whose dreams of playing a ghostbuster spiral into repeat castings as a jihadi bride. Among stories of honour killings and ill-fated love in besieged locations, we also find heart-warming connections and powerful challenges to the status quo. From Algiers to Brighton, these stories transcend time and place revealing just how varied the search for belonging can be.
Table of Contents:
Introduction 7; Fadia Faqir, Under the Cypress Tree 15; Amina Jama, Home, to a Man and other poems 30; Chimene Suleyman, Cutting Someone's Heart Out with a Spoon 37; Us 44; Aliyah Hasinah Holder, Sentence and other poems 48; Kamila Shamsie, The Girl Next Door 55; Imtiaz Dharker, The Right Word and other poems 74; Triska Hamid, Islamic Tinder 81; Nafeesa Hamid, This Body Is Woman 85; Ahdaf Soueif, Mezzaterra 96; Seema Begum, Uomini Cadranno 114; Leila Aboulela, The Insider 117; Shazea Quraishi, Fallujah, Basrah and other poems 154; Shaista Aziz, Blood and Broken Bodies 161; Miss L, Stand By Me 166;Aisha Mirza, Staying Alive Through Brexit: Racism, Mental Health and Emotional Labour 170; Hibaq Osman, The Things I Would Tell You and other poems 175; Azra Tabassum, Brown Girl and other poems 185; Selma Dabbagh, Take Me There 191; Last Assignment to Jenin 196; Asma Elbadawi, Belongings and other poems 205; Samira Shackle, My Other Half 209; Sabrina Mahfouz, Battleface 218; Hanan al-Shaykh, An Eye That Sees 238; Biographies 247; Credits 255
About the Author :
Sabrina Mahfouz: British Egyptian playwright, poet and screenwriter. She was awarded the 2014 Fringe First Award for Chef, and her most recent work, Clean, was produced by Traverse Theatre (Edinburgh) and transferred to New York in 2014. In 2012, David Schwimmer made his directorial stage debut with a production of Sabrina's monologue Dry Ice. Her first book was published by Bloomsbury in 2014. Ahdaf Soueif: Renowned Egyptian political and cultural commentator, and author of bestselling The Map of Love, shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1999. www.ahdafsoueif.com Kamila Shamsie: Author of six novels, including Burnt Shadows (shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction) and, most recently, A God in Every Stone, which was shortlisted for the Baileys Prize, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and in 2013 was named a Granta Best of Young British Novelist. She grew up in Karachi and now lives in London. Warsan Shire: Award-winning British-Somali writer, poet and editor. Full collection of poetry to be released in 2016 by Flipped Eye. Winner of the African Poetry Prize and 2013 London Young Poet Laureate. Her poetry featured prominently in Beyonce's 2016 feature length film Lemonade. www.twitter.com/warsan_shire Hibaq Osman: Former Roundhouse Slam Champion and author of A Silence You Can Carry, published by Outspoken Press in 2015. Nafeesa Hamid: Emerging spoken word artist, poet, playwrite, BA student. www.twitter.com/NafeesaHamid Chimene Suleyman: Chimene Suleyman is a writer. Her debut poetry collection, Outside Looking On (Influx Press, 2014) was mentioned in a Guardian's Best Books list of 2014. She has performed at the Royal Festival Hall, Book Slam, Literary Death Match, Bush Theatre, to name a few. She also represented the UK for poetry at the International Biennale, Rome 2011. She has written on race and gender for the Independent, Media Diversified, and The Quietus. Chimene is from London and currently lives in New York. www.chimenesuleyman.com Aisha Mirza: Writer, musician and activist from London. She blogs at aboatwithnoengine.wordpress.com Myriam Francois-Cerrah: Writer, broadcaster and academic with a focus on current affairs, France, Islam and the Middle East. She writes a monthly column for the New Statesman s rolling politics blog, The Staggers, and is a regular contributor to Middle East Eye. Amerah Salah: A spoken word artist, workshop facilitator, project coordinator and outspoken human rights supporter. www.amerahsalah.co.uk Triska Hamid: Regular contributor to Vice www.vice.com/en_uk/tag/Triska Hamid Samira Shackle: Journalist writing mainly on politics, terrorism, and gender, with a particular focus on the Indian Subcontinent. She was awarded the Richard Beeston bursary by the Times newspaper in 2015 and frequently writes for the New Statesman, the Guardian, the Times, Vice and Deutsche Welle. Her work has also appeared in Al-Jazeera, the Independent, Prospect, Monocle, Grazia, Dawn (Pakistan), the Express Tribune (Pakistan) and others. samirashackle.com Amaal Said: Danish-born Somali photographer and poet. She is a member of the Burn After Reading poetry collective and a former Barbican Young Poet. She won the Wasafiri New Writing Prize for poetry in 2015. www.amaalsaid.com Azra Tabassum: Debut poetry collection Shaking the Trees published in 2014. Aakifah Aboobaker: Winner of Poetry Society's SLAMbassadors 2013 (and the first poet to perform on stage in a full burqa in the UK).
Review :
Emma Watson's Jan/Feb 2019 choice for her online feminist book club, Our Shared Shelf; A Guardian Best Book of the Year 2017; 'A lively, varied anthology...Strong, impassioned voices speak out from the pages.' The Guardian; 'There is a strong sense of empowerment within these pages, empowerment of womanhood and individual identity...This anthology is strikingly relevant today. Not only that, it is one that is sorely needed...I recommend this book most highly.' The Bookbag , 5 star review. '...a beautiful and haunting collection, with its evocative and sharp writing...The Things I Would Tell You provides a vital but fleeting glimpse into the lives of the unheard and is the perfect place to start for those looking to diversify their reading list.' For Book's Sake, 4 star review; 'Outstanding collection...The scope of the book is vast: in setting, style and experience. The facts, alternative perspectives, harsh realities and the breadth of geography within the collection doesn't just expose the extreme limitation of the depiction of British Muslims, it depicts and voices their multicultural, multifaceted identity.' The List, 4 star review; 'Like last year's successful essay collection The Good Immigrant, The Things I Would Tell You gives a platform to people who don't find it easy to get published. Ranging from poetry to essays to short stories to a play, this collection showcases the variety of work British Muslim women are producing, touching on identity, belonging, religion, mental health, memory, love and more. My personal favourites include short stories Cutting Someone's Heart Out With a Spoon and Noor, by Chimene Suleyman and Kamila Shamsie respectively, and Imtiaz Dharker's poem The Right Word.' Stylist Magazine, Best Books of April; 'Exploring love, politics, violence, home, history, family, war, occupation, patriarchy, Brexit - this rich collection paints a vivid and complex picture of the lives, concerns, creativity and realities of Muslim women living in the UK today. The book is indeed important, and timely.' openDemocracy; 'At times sensual, humorous, piercing and heartbreaking, The Things I Would Tell You is an absorbing read. It is also important, and never more relevant than now.' The Skinny, 4 star review; 'The Things I Would Tell You is fiercely independent. It hasn't kowtowed to expectation; allowing Muslim women the space to tell their own stories in whichever way they wish. Like many Muslim women I know, it resolutely stands on its own two feet.' The Asian Writer; `The first story I read moved me to tears, the poems made me up my game and the essays were a much needed education' Hollie McNish, Guardian Best Book of the Year 2017; `With a title like Don't Panic, I'm Islamic, how can you resist? Using short stories, cartoons, photography and more, 34 contributors from around the world answer the essential questions ... provocative, subversive and creative.' Phoenix Mag
