Busboys and Poets Books Presents: Nora Lester-Murad
Date and Time
Mar 14, 2023 6:00 pm
Location
Shirlington
4251 S. Campbell Ave, Arlington, Virginia, 22206
Mar 14, 2023 6:00 pm
Shirlington
IDA IN THE MIDDLE | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation
Join us to learn about an important coming of age story that explores identity, place, voice, and belonging.
Every time violence erupts in the Middle East, Ida knows what’s coming next at her school near Boston. Some of her classmates treat her as if it’s all her fault—just for being Palestinian. In eighth grade, Ida is forced to move to a different school, but people still treat her like she’ll never fit in. Ida wishes she could disappear. One day, dreading a final class project—talking about your life’s passion in front of the whole school—Ida looks for food.
She discovers a jar of olives that came from a beloved aunt in her family’s village near Jerusalem. She eats one and finds herself there—as if her parents had never left Palestine! Things are different in her alternate reality—harder in many ways, but also strangely familiar and
comforting. Now Ida has to make some tough choices. Which Ida would she rather be? How can she find her place?Ida’s dilemma becomes more frightening as the day approaches when Israeli bulldozers are coming to demolish another home in her family’s village.
Nora Lester Murad is joining on the Busboys and Poets stage for a celebration event, joined in conversation by NAAWA representative Aline Batareseh. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Fishman will be signing following the program.
This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of YOU ARE YOUR OWN BEST TEACHER will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is IN PERSON and will NOT be livestreamed.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
Nora Lester Murad is a writer, educator, activist, co-author of Rest in My Shade: A Poem About Roots, and editor of I Found Myself in Palestine: Stories of Love and Renewal From Around the Globe. Ida in the Middle is her first young adult book. From a Jewish American family, Nora married a Palestinian Muslim, and raised three daughters in the West Bank. She organizes on a variety of social justice causes and blogs at www.noralestermurad.com.
Aline Batarseh is the Executive Director of Visualizing Palestine, an organization focused on using data and research to visually communicate Palestinian experiences to provoke narrative change. Aline volunteers with the National Arab American Women’s Association’s Education Outreach Program, which focuses on addressing misrepresentation of Arabs and Arab Americans in school curricula.
NAAWA serves as a platform and powerful voice of Arab American women for causes and actions that strive to achieve social justice, protect human rights and civil liberties, and provide a welcoming environment for women and families to prosper and thrive. NAAWA's Education Outreach Program’s (EOP) advocates for and promotes accurate, anti-biased and diverse representation of Arabs and Arab Americans in American education systems.
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