TONIGHT: Monia Mazigh’s Mirrors & Mirages | The Montreal Launch

On Wednesday, October 22 at 7 p.m., The Silk Road Institute and Librairie Drawn & Quarterly will host Monia Mazigh for the official Montreal launch of her book Mirrors and Mirages, published by House of Anansi and translated from the original French by Fred Reed. A short talk by the author, a book signing and a chance to mingle will comprise the night’s event and, of course, tasty refreshments will be served.

In the spirit of Amy Tan’s international bestselling novel The Joy Luck Club, Mirrors and Mirages is an intricately woven, deftly told story that follows the lives of women and their daughters. In Mirrors and Mirages, Monia Mazigh lets us into the lives of six women. They are immigrant mothers — Emma, Samia, and Fauzia — guardians of tradition who want their daughters to enjoy freedom in Western society. They are daughters — Lama, Sally, and Louise, a young woman who converted to Islam for love — university students who are clever and computer savvy. They decide for themselves whether or not to wear a veil, or niqab. Gradually, these women cross paths, and, without losing their authenticity, they become friends and rivals, mirrors and mirages of each other.

Monia Mazigh holds a Ph.D. in finance from McGill University. In 2009, she published her memoir, Hope and Despair, about her fight to free her husband, Maher Arar, from a Syrian jail. Her debut novel, Miroirs et mirages, published originally in French, was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award.

Fred A. Reed is a journalist and award-winning literary translator. He has won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation three times and his translations include Monia Mazigh’s memoir Hope and Despair. He lives in Montreal.

We look forward to seeing you here! For more information visit www.silkroadinstitute.ca and RSVP on the Facebook event page.