Please join us for an Off the Page reading and conversation with Bushra Rehmanabout her new novel Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion.

Off the Page: Conversations with Writers
Thursday, April 27, 2023 
1:40pm – 2:55pm 
Rosenthal Library Building, Lecture Hall 230

Please RSVP here

Bushra Rehman’s novel, Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion (Flatiron), is a love song: to a community—Pakistani Americans; to a time—the 1980s; and to a place—the Corona neighborhood of Queens, N.Y. Rehman is clear about her love for the community and neighborhood: “Even if they hurt you, it is bursting with life,” she says emphatically. “I’m celebrating this community, the love in this community. It’s hard to leave it. There’s so much talk about the experience of loneliness; in the community I grew up in, you were never alone.”

The protagonist in Roses, Razia Mirza, is coming of age in a traditional Muslim family, with a mother who teaches the Quran to the neighborhood kids, but Razia is also rebelling with Taslima, her friend and partner in crime. The girls wear miniskirts, listen to forbidden music, cut their hair. Even recycling cans for money is an act of rebellion. Then Razia is accepted to a prestigious New York City high school, her world expands, and she faces the conflict of leaving her past behind if she’s going to be true to herself.

Read more:

Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion reviewed in Publishers Weekly
An excerpt of Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion
Read and listen here to an interview with Bushra Rehman on Audible.
Read more about Rehman’s work
The author’s website

This event is part of the Queens College series Off the Page: Conversations with Writers.