Zoulfa Katouh

We are so excited to welcome Zoulfa Katouh to Ely to discuss her debut novel, As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow. An epic, emotional, breathtaking story of love and loss set amid the Syrian revolution, Zoulfa's book is the most anticipated YA release of the autumn.

Burning with the fires of hope and possibility, As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow will sweep you up and never let you go. Salama Kassab was a pharmacy student when the cries for freedom broke out in Syria. She still had her parents and her big brother; she still had her home. She was even supposed to be meeting a boy to talk about marriage. Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors. She knows that she should be thinking about leaving, but who will help the people of her beloved country if she doesn't? With her heart so conflicted, her mind has conjured a vision to spur her to action. His name is Khawf, and he haunts her nights with hallucinations of everything she has lost. But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, when she crosses paths with Kenan, the boy she was supposed to meet on that fateful day, she starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all. Soon, Salama must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are - not a war, but a revolution - and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria's freedom.

Zoulfa is the first Syrian author to be published in both the US and the UK in the young adult category.