Lit with Liberate: Hijab Butch Blues

JOIN THE LIT WITH LIBERATE READING GROUP

Lit with Liberate will meet in February to discuss Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H. Multiple copies are available to borrow, please email Beth at [email protected] to reserve yours. 

Come along for pizza, drinks and book chat in the Rowswell Room on the second floor. Zoom attendance possible, please let us know if you want to take part this way and we’ll send you the details. No booking required. If you haven’t read the book but want to come along for a taster of the book group, please do!  

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ABOUT THE BOOK

When Lamya is fourteen, she decides to disappear.

It seems easier to ease herself out of sight than to grapple with the difficulty of taking shape in a world that doesn't fit. She is a queer teenager growing up in a Muslim household, a South Asian in a Middle Eastern country. But during her Quran class, she reads a passage about Maryam, and suddenly everything shifts: if Maryam was never touched by any man, could Maryam be... like Lamya?

Written with deep intelligence and a fierce humour, Hijab Butch Blues follows Lamya as she travels to the United States, as she comes out, and as she navigates the complexities of the immigration system - and the queer dating scene. At each step, she turns to her faith to make sense of her life, weaving stories from the Quran together with her own experiences: Musa leading his people to freedom; Allah, who is neither male nor female; and Nuh, who built an ark, just as Lamya is finally able to become the architect of her own story.

Raw and unflinching, Hijab Butch Blues heralds the arrival of a truly original voice, asking powerful questions about gender and sexuality, relationships, identity and faith, and what it means to build a life of one's own.