Digital Schools Talk with Randa Abdel-Fattah – Available 10.30am 25 Oct until End of Term 4 (Early Stage 1, Stage 1, Stage 2)

ACTIVITY OUTLINE:

Premiering 25 Oct 10.30am

Presented on International Children’s Day, join us as we meet much-loved author Randa Abdel-Fattah to talk about her new book 11 Words of Love – a book for children from all backgrounds about the many ways we love. Celebrating International Children’s Day we introduce topics of love, refugees, diverse backgrounds and diversity of languages. This will be a heart-warming and gentle talk, with added interactivity designed specifically for early-stage 1 and stage 1.

Presented by Sydney Opera House in association with Hachette Australia and NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge, Department of Education

If your students have a question that they would like to ask, you will have the opportunity to record it and send it in for Randa Abdel-Fattah to answer on the day. Questions must be sent no later than 1 June 2023. Further instructions on how to do this will be sent to you upon booking.

IS THIS A FREE EVENT? Yes

BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Sydney Opera House

SPECIAL GUESTS:

About Randa

Randa Abdel-Fattah is a Palestinian Egyptian Muslim writer, academic, former lawyer and the multi-award-winning author of 11 books published in over 20 countries, including multiple translations, stage productions in the US and Australia, and a graphic novel series. Randa has been nominated for Sweden’s 2019 and 2018 Astrid Lindgren Award, the world’s biggest children’s and young adult literature award. Randa is also a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Sociology at Macquarie University and her recent book is Coming of Age in the War on Terror.

About 11 Words for Love

A moving and joyful book for children from all backgrounds about the many ways we love, from award-winning author Randa Abdel-Fattah and acclaimed illustrator Maxine Beneba Clarke.

There are eleven words for love, and my family knows them all.

A family flees their homeland to find safety in another country, carrying little more than a suitcase full of love.

As their journey unfolds, the oldest child narrates 11 meanings for love in Arabic as her family show, and are shown, all different kinds of love in their new home, and they also remember the love they have for their homeland and for those left behind or lost along the way.

In the Arabic language, there are over 50 words describing the degrees of love. That’s 50 stories, 50 life-worlds. This lyrical and heartwarming book takes you on a journey through 11 of these Arabic expressions for love.