Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion Book Launch with Bushra Rehman at 12Gates!

Celebrate the launch of Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion at Twelve Gates Arts in Philly on Saturday, October 18th, 2024 from 2 - 4 PM! Join award-winning novelist poet Bushra Rehman for the launch of her critically acclaimed book. The afternoon will feature a reading, talk, and book signing.

In , Razia Mirza grows up amid the wild grape vines and backyard sunflowers of Corona, Queens, with her best friend, Saima, by her side. When a family rift drives the girls apart, Razia’s heart is broken. She finds solace in Taslima, a new girl in her close-knit Pakistani-American community. They embark on a series of small rebellions: listening to scandalous music, wearing miniskirts, and cutting school to explore the city.

When Razia is accepted to Stuyvesant, a prestigious high school in Manhattan, the gulf between the person she is and the daughter her parents want her to be, widens. At Stuyvesant, Razia meets Angela and is attracted to her in a way that blossoms into a new understanding. When their relationship is discovered by an Aunty in the community, Razia must choose between her family and her own future.

Punctuated by both joy and loss, full of ’80s music and beloved novels, Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion is a new classic: a fiercely compassionate coming-of-age story of a girl struggling to reconcile her heritage and faith with her desire to be true to herself.

Bushra Rehman’s latest novel Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion, a modern classic about being Muslim and queer, was noted as a Best Book and Editor’s Choice by The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and Ms. Magazine among others. Rehman is co-editor of Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism, chosen by Ms. Magazine as one of the “100 Best Non-Fiction Books of All Time” and author of the poetry collection Marianna’s Beauty Salon described as “a love poem for Muslim girls, Queens, and immigrants making sense of their foreign home--and surviving.” Her first novel, the dark comedy Corona, was chosen by the NY Public Library as one of its favorite books about NYC. She’s founder of the community-based workshop ‘Two Truths and a Lie: Writing Memoir and Autobiographical Fiction.”

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