Shereen Malherbe's Blog, page 17
May 19, 2021
January 14, 2021
Falastin Magazine Vol.5 Issue.1
PACCUSA’s fifth volume of their literary magazine, Falastin is out!
Editor in Chief, Reem Farhat writes, “Our greatest power comes from inscribing our histories and our realities so join us in reclaiming the Palestinian narrative.”
I couldn’t agree more.
So, it was with such appreciation that they selected my short story, Hunted to feature in this issue.
Haven’t read it yet? Find it here.
August 21, 2020
We bought white lilies.
An excerpt from a memoir piece.
TW: Loss, cancer
I will always remember that summer when us three girls were on the brink of turning nineteen. Every summer, our houses would be surrounded by fields full of rapeseed with its sweet pollen smell drifting through the air. It coated the fields in sunshine yellow and we knew school was out. That year, the news called it an ‘Indian summer’. It summed it up for us and we spent hazy, long days relaxing after our exams and dreaming of a future that rolled out in front of us like the shining expanse of gold fields surrounding our childhood. There was nothing in our world that we couldn’t overcome. Our youthhood, completely wrapped up in a world of light and absorption with ourselves that we hadn’t seen the dark clouds rolling towards us.
It wasn’t that the news came unexpectedly. He had cancer for months but he had fought it before. He had his leg amputated but he could live. Of course, he recovered at seventeen. No-one dies from cancer at seventeen.
‘You will be fine darling, it will be just the same as it was before,’ my mum had said as I was putting off visiting him. The last time I went was before he became sick. We all had a massive sleepover and no one had cancer and we didn’t need to worry about anything.
I drove down the familiar street. His once normal home, became a home where a teenager with cancer lives. The front room where we had the sleepover was now his bedroom, as he couldn’t get up the stairs. I pretended not to notice. Once I was past those slight shifts and I saw his face, it was just as mum said. He joked about his car, how fast it would go with the pedals adjusted for his one leg. We were going to go for a cruise soon. He would be better soon. I left him, smiling with his shaved head doing wheelies in his wheel chair whilst another stream of visitors arrived into his childhood home. I was happy I went. I didn’t know then that that would be the last time I ever saw him.
Before him, I had the memory of visiting churches, for history lessons where we would trace the carvings on the gravestones and the people buried below us only existed in another world, one of ghosts and fairy-tales. It wasn’t how I had imagined or watched on films like an overwhelming wave of grief. I don’t think I cried. It was stunned silence.
His funeral came around quickly. We had the date. We went to the florists. We were adults now. We had to be prepared. Yes, you take flowers. White lilies. There is note.
“What would you like to say?” the florist said. My friends looked at me. I cannot even remember what I wrote. We were grown up now. That’s how you handled it when people died. You brought white lilies and you said things like, we are sorry for your loss. Or, we send our condolences to you and the family.
When we arrived at the funeral, it felt like it was just us three there. Everyone else turned into weeping strangers. I imagine now that they were all dressed in black, but the invitation had said to dress cheerfully. I don’t remember what people wore. The funeral car drove past with his friends sat atop the sunroof. Flowers spelt his name.
I couldn’t get out of the car I felt my heart falling out of my chest my lungs choking in the thick summer air my body shaking uncontrollably I was losing it his coffin was too small he was too young too full of life to be buried he was the sweetest boy in the class it wasn’t something people just said after he died he really was he was the first boy I kissed I saw him just last week it wasn’t really happening he’s going to get up now and it was all a joke on all of us just like his joke in class when he yanked his trousers up and pretended to be the class geek and we all laughed and we all loved him for it.
I cannot remember how I recovered. But I remember being picked up off the floor as I struggled to pick up the lilies. A sickly-sweet smell drifted under my nose. But the smell could not have been from the lilies. The florist had removed the pollen stems. Cut short. Their deformed stumps stuck out at me. I have hated amputated lilies ever since.
August 16, 2020
The Girl Who Slept Under The Moon
New children’s book series focusing on the experiences of migrant children
Hi all,
I’m thrilled to announce the upcoming publication of my first children’s book, The Girl Who Slept Under The Moon.
Published by @beacon_books & illustrated by @sarahnestiwillard
@beacon_books are looking for potential #bookreviewers, #librarians and #publications who would like to get involved with the book’s release.
We are really looking forward to sharing this new series with you and hearing your thoughts.
Stay tuned for the upcoming #coverreveal & publication date coming soon.
shereenmalherbe #thegirlwhosleptunderthemoon
refugeestories #migrantchildren #diversebooks #diversechildrensbooks #diversityandinclusion #diversityisbeautiful #Palestine #fiction #Muslimshelfspace #muslimvoices
June 24, 2020
The OU helped me to become a published author.
Published by the Open University. Read the full article here.
“I always dreamed of becoming an author,” says OU graduate Shereen. “But it wasn’t something I realised again until I had taken time off from my banking career.”
Shereen had been working in London’s Canary Wharf when she met her husband and took some time off to raise her family. After her break from banking, Shereen decided to retrain and return to her childhood pursuit of writing.
‘Begin your story and dedicate time to it’
By the time Shereen had handed in her last assignment and completed her degree, she had not only published one novel, but used the chapters she developed for her course to land a publishing contract for a second.
“At the end, I was exhausted but also happy that I had achieved both milestones: being an English Literature graduate and a published author of two novels. I received my contract for my first children’s book, and I am also working on a third novel, which is still in its early days. A key moment happened last year when I hosted an event for new writers at the Leicester Crossroads Festival. I felt as if I came full circle, from dreaming of writing to being in a position to help others start their writing journey. I’m very grateful.”
June 19, 2020
The Girl Who Slept Under The Moon
Sneak Preview
Hi everyone, I’m excited to announce my next book…for those of you who guessed it is a children’s book! ‘The Girl Who Slept Under the Moon’ follows the story of Noor, who arrives in a new country and doesn’t belong at her new school.
To feel better, Noor takes comfort in the things that remain the same and decides to stick to them.
The most important to Noor, is to stick to her prayers, but at school she has a problem. The only place to pray is a storage cupboard…but Noor is not alone. Another girl also can’t find her place in the playground.
This is a story of journey’s that take you to different places. Of discovering where you belong and the importance of sharing stories.
This is a work in progress illustration by the talented @sarahnestiwillard who is the illustrator on the book, due to be published by @Beacon_books soon!
July 15, 2019
On Hiatus
Hi all, following the cancellation of my July 2019 events, I wanted to share with you that I will be offline earlier than expected.
Apologies for any inconvenience but due to unforeseen circumstances, it is better for me & bump to stay closer to home.
I plan to be available for events later in the year.
Until then, I won’t be around much online either, so if you have any upcoming events or questions about my new novel, #TheTower2019 please contact my publisher @beacon_books
Thanks all![image error]
July 5, 2019
July Event IHRC Bookshop, London
[image error]Happy Friday all!
Please see attached venue details for my next July Event. Hosted by the IHRC Bookshop, Wembley, London.
You are cordially invited to my author evening, where I will be discussing my new novel, The Tower.
Tickets are free, so book your space & share via the links below:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/author-evening-with-shereen-malherbe-the-tower-tickets-64721505766
https://www.facebook.com/events/337295210495704/
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Shereen
May 2, 2019
@TheBookslamist ‘The Tower’ Review
[image error]For those of you who don’t follow @Thebookslamist on Instagram or Twitter, here is their latest review.
“Ramadan 2017 was transformatory for me. I wrote , ‘A Virtue of Disobedience’ at night and in these hours the world was speaking to what i was writing. Grenfell happened while I was writing about class inequality. Darren Osborne killed Muslims while I was writing about the far-right. Philando Castille’s killer was acquitted while writing about police brutality- the world was reminding me to write about reality.
Shereen Malherbe’s, The Tower is perhaps one of the best examples of how we can write about our world, in ways that are completely authentic to our lived realities. This is the first novel I have read by a Muslim, about Muslims , that escapes the need to pander to tropes about ‘backwardness’, ‘extremism’ or ‘radicalisation’. The Islam presented in this book isn’t a political identity, it is an Islam that is breathed through every day life- and I will forever love this book for doing that. This book is our entire answer to how you write outside of Orientalism (even internalised). I know so many men like Mo that this book seemed a tribute to them.
Initially I was unsure as to how quickly Malherbe writes of the fire in the tower block, it seemed the most significant part of the plot had been hurried. But as I read on, I realised that actually Malherbe’s empathy is incredible. She helps us to understand that the trauma was never limited to the fire itself, but to everything that came after it too. Rather than gratuitously writing about how the lives were lost, she echoes the significance of the loss through the survivors- a truly masterful way of writing the experience.
The book reminded me of the line by @lowkeyonline: “Rooms where both the extraordinary and the mundane were lived.” It’s in the small and large details of this novel that you really get to appreciate this.
Although I try not to read fiction in Ramadan myself, I’m going to recommend this as Ramadan reading for all. It’s a beautifully written novel and one that will move you deeply.”
Published by Beacon Books, The Tower is available to buy via bookstores and Amazon worldwide.
Review via @TheBookslamist
April 17, 2019
Happy Publication Day- The Tower
Hi all,
The big day is finally here! The Tower, my second novel is now officially available to buy worldwide.
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Advanced reader reviewers have begun to post their reviews via Goodreads. Here is a sample of a few.
“I’ll be frank: The Tower destroyed me. The story was fraught with emotion and it seemed like suspenseful situations lurked on nearly every page. After I finished reading, I had to take a few days’ break before picking up another book, because I was still thinking about Reem and Leah. I’m more than satisfied with the way the book ended, but their victories were hard-won.”
Sarabi Eventide, Muslimah Media Watch.
“Being an expatriate is something that many people experience when they are forced to displace or run away with their precious lives, or even seek a more promising future in a strange land. This feeling of physical and cultural remoteness, is difficult to explain to people who don’t experience it. However, the writer draws a new map of expatriation: one in which you can feel extraneous inside your own country, within your city or even inside yourself.”
A.Dais, Literary Critic, Palestine.
“The tower is not so much a place in this story but a person. It is a living, breathing entity, much like the diverse cast of characters who reside within it. It is a community of residents who come from different socio-economic, religious and ethnic backgrounds and are able to create a space where everyone is welcome and accepted regardless of their differences. And it stresses the importance of unity and tolerance, especially in the wake of tragedy.”
Nadia, Headscarves & Hardbacks
“We can definitely say that Malherbe’s great narrative skills of the setting bring us to the scene, making The Tower a moving tale. The book shows that when stricken with deep love rejection, tremendous loss of family members, etc. human nature shows its resiliency by making an effort to survive the darkness.”
Papatia, Founder of Fofky’s online bookstore
“By the end of the novel the definitions blur with regards what home really means and who or what we turn to for sanctuary and comfort in times of loss and confusion regardless of where we’re from. Given the on-going global pre-occupation with the refugee crisis, as well as the rapid expansion of the world’s socio-economic divide, ‘The Tower’ by Shereen Malherbe is an important addition to the arsenal of literary work needed for better understanding of and insight into a troubled world that needs to be reminded of its values of compassion and empathy but above all else its humanity.”
R. Asfour, Bookfabulous.com
‘We all have dreams, but it isn’t about dreaming. It is about making the most of what we have … It may be thought that we thought something was bad for us, but in fact it is good’ -The Tower
