Category: Past Events Published Date
Date: 13 Feb 2009
Title: Love in a Headscarf
Speakers: Shelina Zahra Janmohamed, Author
Event Details
City Circle invites you to an intriguing evening with author Shelina Zahra Janmohamed to celebrate the launch of her captivating memoir 'Love in a Headscarf'. The book is the surprising story of one modern woman's search to find herself, her faith and love.
Fed up of seeing the constant barrage of 'misery memoirs' about Muslim women, with images of veiled women with words like 'kidnapped' 'oppressed' or 'slavery', Shelina decided to take matters into her own hands and write a book that conveyed the universal, human and often hilarious experiences of being a British Asian Muslim woman.
Her story starts right from the subversive pink and purple cover of the book featuring a stylish Audrey Hepburn-esque hijab-wearing Muslim woman, and takes you through the humorous anecdotes unravelling the contradictions of culture and faith.
"Is it hot under there?" She is asked about wearing her headscarf. "Do you wear it to bed?" Her humour is tempered when faced with the events of 9/11 and she declares to those who choose to stereotype her and other Muslims into little boxes that she is 'none of the above.'
And of course, we must remember love. What kind of love should we be looking for? Does romantic love conflict with Divine love? And what is Divine love anyway? This is a timely discussion just before Valentine's day to provoke thinking about whether Muslims have forgotten love, and how we need to recapture it.
Headscarves, humour, modern angst and of course a discussion about love just in time for the notorious Valentine's Day will all be served up for a feisty discussion with the audience.
Shelina Zahra Janmohamed writes columns for EMEL magazine and The Muslim News and regularly contributes to the Guardian, the BBC and Channel 4. She is much in demand as a commentator on radio and television and has appeared on programmes including Newsnight and The Heaven and Earth Show. Her award-winning blog, Spirit21, is hugely popular. She is a graduate of New College, Oxford. She lives in London. Love in a Headscarf is her first book. You can see more at www.loveinaheadscarf.com. You can read more of Shelina's writings at www.spirit21.co.uk
Shelina will be signing copies of her book after the event. All welcome. Free entrance.