Sufiya Ahmed Visits The Learning Lounge

Author of 'Secrets Of The Henna Girl' (Learning Lounge - 12/11/2019)

On Tuesday the 12th of November Toot Hill's Learning Lounge were lucky enough to welcome Sufiya Ahmed through their doors. Sufiya used to work in parliament and got the idea for her book 'Secrets Of the Henna Girl' whist working with victims of forced marriage during a campaign.

Sufiya ran an author workshop where she discussed the issue of forced marriage and how she went from parliament to being a full-time author. She then got the students to dress in traditional marriage garments so they could act out one of the scenes from the book. In her second workshop, Sufiya set our students the challenge of coming up with their own campaign. Students picked a topic and had to write a letter to lobby their local MP or design adverts to market their campaigns. Students chose topics from refugee rights to the gender pay gap.

Later books were sold and signed.

If you missed Sufiya's visit you can borrow her book from the Learning Lounge or listen to our podcast Lounging With Books -> https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/loungingwithbooks/episodes/2019-11-14T01_43_16-08_00

Secrets Of The Henna Girl by Sufiya Ahmed

Zeba Khan is like any other sixteen-year-old girl: enjoying herself, waiting for exam results . . . and dreaming of the day she'll meet her one true love.

Except her parents have other plans.

In Pakistan for the summer, Zeba's world is shattered. Her future is threatened by an unthinkable - and forced - duty to protect her father's honour.

But does she hold the secrets that will help her escape?