An Afternoon with Celine Semaan and Suja Sawafta

Join An Afternoon with Celine Semaan and Suja Sawafta on Sunday, November 3, at Books & Books, for an insightful discussion about Semaan’s debut memoir, A Woman is a School. In this deeply personal work, Celine Semaan, founder of Slow Factory, draws on her experiences as a war survivor and child refugee to share ancestral knowledge and stories of resistance from the Global South, particularly Lebanon. Following the tradition of the hakawati, or storytellers of the Levant, Semaan documents her life and family’s stories, offering a unique cultural and anthropological perspective.

Celine Semaan is a Lebanese-Canadian designer, writer and advocate working at the intersection of environmental and social justice. Through her organization Slow Factory, she addresses climate adaptation and social inequity by promoting sustainability and open education. Her writing has appeared in major publications, including New York Mag: The Cut and The Huffington Post. 

The conversation will be moderated by Suja Sawafta, Assistant Professor of Arabic Studies at the University of Miami. Sawafta’s research explores exile and ecocriticism, focusing on the works of Saudi-Iraqi novelist Abdulrahman Munif. Free tickets are available, with books for purchase at the event.