Rosa Book Club – Women Writing Resistance
Stories have always been a battlefield, and women have always been writing on it.
We are delighted to announce the new edition of Rosa Book Club: Women Writing Resistance, a feminist reading circle bringing together eight books by eight extraordinary women, with a focus on voices from the Global South. From Palestine to Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, the US, the UK, and India, this season’s lineup explores what it means for women to write, remember, and resist across very different histories and circumstances.
What we’ll be reading
This season moves across seven themes, each carried by a different book and a different writer.
Memory and family violence — Empty Cages by Fatma Qandil (Egypt), winner of the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature, follows one woman’s lifetime of memories with poetic honesty and unexpected humor.
Palestine and historical witness — The Woman from Tantoura by Radwa Ashour (Palestine) follows Ruqayya, who was thirteen when the Nakba came to her village in 1948, in a sweeping novel that turns memory into an act of resistance.
Feminism and nation-building — The Open Door by Latifa al-Zayat (Egypt) follows a young woman’s coming of age against the backdrop of Egypt’s nationalist movement, where her fight for selfhood mirrors her country’s fight for independence.
War and dark humour — The Watermelon Boys by Ruqaya Izzidien (Iraq) tells the First World War story of Mesopotamia from the side of the occupied, offering a powerful counter-narrative to colonial history.
Diaspora and patriarchy — A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum (US and Palestine) traces three generations of a Palestinian-American family and what it takes to break free of silence and shame.
Motherhood and identity — How to Mend: Motherhood and Its Ghosts by Iman Mersal (Egypt) sets out from a single surviving photograph to explore motherhood, memory, and representation.
Body and taboo — Blood Feast: The Complete Short Stories by Malika Moustadraf (Morocco), a feminist icon who died at thirty-seven, offers haunting, visceral stories about the gendered body and desire on the margins of Moroccan society.
How it works
The program is curated by Habiba Alaya, with sessions moderated by Zeineb Nouira. We meet every Saturday, once a month, to read and discuss each book together. No prior expertise is needed, only curiosity and an open mind. A limited number of book copies will be made available to participants who register.
This remains, first and foremost, a book club: a space to read, talk, disagree, laugh, and think together over good books and good company.
Join us
Registration is now open. Register here →
Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung – North Africa Office 55 TER, Rue 1er Juin, MutuelleVille 1082 Tunis infotunis@rosalux.org