The Common Press is excited to feature Stories of Palestinian Women and Girls on June 21st, from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm. Joining us from Palestine is the award-winner author of They Fell Like Stars From the Sky, Sheikha Helawy, along with the author of Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies, Heba Heyak, Winner of the Creative Award in the 2022 Palestine Book Awards. The event will be hosted byLaïla El-Métoui.
They Fell Like Stars From the Sky & Other Stories is a collection of eighteen illustrated short stories celebrating the courage, resilience, tragedies, and triumphs of Bedouin Palestinian women and girls. Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies is written for those who had to leave—collected remembrances of a childhood in Gaza by a woman far from Palestine’s sun and sea.
About Sheikha Helawy
Sheikha Helawy was born in the Bedouin village, Dhayl ‘Araj near Haifa. She is a writer and lecturer in Arab Feminism at Ben Gurion University, and is currently working on her PhD on ‘New Diaspora in Arab Women Writing’. She has written four story collections: The Ladies of Twilight (سيّدات العتمة) in 2015; Outside the Seasons I Learned to Fly (خارج الفصول تعلّمت الطيران) in 2015; Windows are Spoiled Books (النوافذ كتب رديئة) in 2016. Her latest The Order C345, (c345 الطلبيّة ) in 2018 won the best short storybook award in the Arab World 2019-2020.
About Heba Hayek
Hayek … is one of the most talented Palestinian writers writing in English today.— The Electronic Intifada
Heba Hayek is a London-based, Gaza-raised Palestinian author, creative and facilitator. She completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Miami University, Ohio, and studied for an MA in Social Anthropology at SOAS University of London.
Heba’s first book, Sambac Beneath Unlikely Skies, won the Creative Award in the 2022 Palestine Book Awards and was chosen as a 2021 Book of the Year by The White Review, Middle East Eye and The New Arab.
About Host-Laïla El-Métoui
Pronounced: ‘ el-mehtwee she/her/hers
Laïla El-Métoui, an award-winning Equity and Wellbeing Educator with 30+ years of experience in Education and Inclusion, blends practicality, thought-provocation, and a commitment to social justice in her dynamic training sessions. As Founder of Pride in Education, Educating Out Racism, SWANA Queers, and Proud London Councils, Laïla pioneers inclusive spaces, earning her the Stonewall Lesbian Role Model of the Year 2020. She is recognized on the National Diversity Power List Honours 2024 (Top 50) and is a UN WOMEN delegate 2024.
Event Information
- Doors open at 6:30 pm
- Panel Discussion, Q&A & Signings from 7pm
- The event ends at 9 pm
- This event is taking place in the bookshop, which is wheelchair accessible.