homad

On every day off, the child--the central character--visits his grandmother who lives in an old house amidst a flower garden at the foot of a mountain. The grandmother is full of love and tenderness. We experience one of these visits through the child’s narration, relating beautiful moments and rooted in his great love and appreciation for his grandmother. Years pass by, the wheel of life turns and the child becomes a father, then a grandfather. One day he decides to visit his grandmother’s house with his grandchildren. The house had been transformed into a public park, a gift to the people of the neighbourhood. During that nostalgic visit, reality mixes with imagination and the present with the man’s past and he finds himself facing strange manifestations: the garden sparkles with precious stones and the fig tree near his heart bears emeralds. Only then does he discover the name chosen by the mayor for his grandmother’s garden - a name that reinforces his vision of the Emerald Garden.

An architect from Morocco, Raja Malah holds a master’s degree in city planning from the University of Paris, France. Besides her work as an architect in Dubai, she writes for teenagers and children. Her most important books include Hadyaty La Eed Miladak (My gift for your birthday), Ajnehat Taaeraty (The wings of my plane), and Hadyqat Al Zomorrod (The Emerald Garden). Two of her books have been translated into French: Antologia Al Shaer Al Imarati Al Moaaser (Anthology of contemporary Emirati poetry) and Ayna Kano Yaktoboon (Where were they writing). Hadyqat Al Zomorrod (The Emerald Garden) was the finalist for the prestigious Sheikh Zayed Book Award in 2021.

Nouha Homad has had a career as university professor teaching English and comparative literature, and French and Spanish language and literature. She is a writer, editor, certified freelance translator and artist. Syrian by birth and parentage, Homad grew up in Paris, Madrid, Rome, Cairo, Lisbon, Buenos Aires, and Damascus absorbing languages and cultural experiences along the way. She has since lived in Beirut, Amman, Washington DC, Tripoli, Aberystwyth and London, and Montreal among other places, and this has continued to enrich and influence her cosmopolitan vision. She lives in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.