We are excited to share that several Transatlantic clients have been chosen for the RISE: A FEMINIST BOOK PROJECT latest Book List!
Rise: A Feminist Book Project is for Ages 0-18 and has been promoting quality feminist literature for young readers since 2002 as a part of the Feminist Task Force and the Social Responsibilities Round Table.
Congratulations to:
THE SECRET DIARY OF MONA HASAN by Salma Hussain.
TOUFAH: THE WOMAN WHO INSPIRED AN AFRICAN #METOO MOVEMENT by Toufah Jallow with Kim Pittaway.
LIA AND BECKETT’S ABRACADABRA by Amy Noelle Parks.
DUCKS: TWO YEARS IN THE OIL SANDS by Kate Beaton, published by Drawn & Quarterly.
THE SECRET DIARY OF MONA HASAN by Salma Hussain follows Mona, as she learns to find her voice over the course of a year that sees her immigrating from Dubai to Canada in this novel for fans of Front Desk by Kelly Yang.
Mona Hasan is a young Muslim girl growing up in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, when the first Gulf War breaks out in 1991. The war isn’t what she expects — “We didn’t even get any days off school! Just my luck” — especially when the ground offensive is over so quickly and her family peels the masking tape off their windows. Her parents, however, fear there is no peace in the region, and it sparks a major change in their lives.
Salma Hussain (she/her) grew up in the U.A.E., and immigrated to Canada when she was thirteen years old. She has a B.A. (Hon.) in English Literature, with a concentration in creative writing from the University of Calgary, a law degree from the University of Calgary, and a Masters in Law from McGill University. Her short stories and poems have been published in filling Station, West Coast Line, Other Voices, and in the anthology Homebound: Muslim Women Poetry Collection (Outburst Press). She is a graduate of the Humber Summer Writing Workshop and won the International Festival of Authors’ Litjam short story competition (2018). She was also a mentee in the Diaspora Dialogues long-form mentorship program in 2019.
Salma is represented by Amy Tompkins.
TOUFAH: THE WOMAN WHO INSPIRED AN AFRICAN #METOO MOVEMENT by Toufah Jallow with Kim Pittaway is the story of Toufah Jallow, a brilliant and inspiring young woman who, after she was forced to flee to Canada from her home in The Gambia, bravely bucked taboo and named herself as a survivor of a sexual assault by the country’s dictator–launching an unprecedented protest movement.
Toufah Jallow is an African anti-rape activist who inspired a #MeToo movement in West Africa. A compelling and poised speaker, she has told her story to her nation on live television, as well as to reporters from the BBC, CBC, NPR, New York Times, Globe and Mail, Guardian, Al Jazeera and more.
Kim Pittaway is an award-winning journalist with credits including Hazlitt, The Walrus, Chatelaine, Cottage Life, Reader’s Digest & CBC Radio’s The Current. She is also the Executive Director, MFA in Creative Nonfiction at University of King’s College, Halifax and Communications consultant to NGOs and others doing good work in difficult circumstances.
Toufah is represented by Marilyn Biderman, and Kim is represented by Carolyn Forde.
LIA AND BECKETT’S ABRACADABRA by Amy Noelle Parks is a star-crossed YA rom-com that has the charm of Maureen Johnson’s 13 Little Blue Envelopes and the magic of Now You See Me, following seventeen-year-old Lia Sawyer is thrilled to get a mysterious invitation from her grandmother to compete in a stage magic contest––even though her parents object. But she’s going to be judged by a bunch of old-school magicians who think that because she’s a girl, her only magical talents lie in wearing sparkly dresses, providing distractions, and getting sawed, crushed, or stretched. And Lia can’t ask her grandmother for help because she’s disappeared, leaving behind only her best magic tricks, a few obscure clues, and an order to stay away from Blackwell boys, the latest generation of a rival magic family. Lia totally plans to follow her grandmother’s rule––until the cute boy she meets on the beach turns out to be Beckett Blackwell, son of the biggest old guard magical family there is. Witty and romantic, Lia and Beckett’s Abracadabra is a YA rom-com with a magical twist!
Amy Noelle Parks is a professor of elementary education at Michigan State University, where she helps future teachers recover from the trauma inflicted on them by years of school mathematics.At night, she writes stories about smart girls falling for feminist boys in quirky midwestern settings and likes using One Direction lyrics as the inspiration for entire novels. Social media still scares her, but she’s working on it.
Amy is represented by Elizabeth Bennett.
DUCKS: TWO YEARS IN THE OIL SANDS by Kate Beaton, published by Drawn & Quarterly is praised for Beaton’s natural cartooning prowess being on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife, Northern Lights, and Rocky Mountains. Her first full-length graphic narrative, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.
Drawn & Quarterly is represented by Evan Brown and Samantha Haywood.
Check out more information on the list here: https://risefeministbooks.wordpress.com/2023/01/17/current-booklist/