Book club
Schoolgirls in Tal Afar advocate for public library during summer reading
TAL AFAR – In Tal Afar, a town in Nineveh province, schoolgirls are using their summer vacation and the academic year to engage deeply with literature, reading poetry, novels, and self-help books. Guided by local writer Ru’a Al-Afandi, who encourages their literary exploration and helps select their books, the students have achieved notable reading milestones.
Hawra Hassan and Huda Saeed are standout readers among their peers, having completed 89 and 75 books respectively. “While supervising several book-loving girls at school and on the book street in Tal Afar, I created an online group comprising dozens of girls aged 7 to 14 to nurture their talents and select age-appropriate books for them,” Al-Afandi told 964media.
Al-Afandi, coping with the lack of a public library in Tal Afar, provides the girls with electronic copies and occasionally printed books in both Arabic and Turkmen. “I then test them, ask questions about each book, and discuss its content and lessons with them,” she added.
Hawra Hassan, 12, a student at Umm Al-Qura Girls School, shared her reading experience, noting her journey began with stories and novels in the third grade. “Among the books I read is ‘Jumana with the Venetian Eyes’, a novel by Ahmed Aal Hamdan, and self-help books like Mark Manson’s ‘The Art of Not Giving a F*ck’,” she said. “I encourage girls our age to read books as they benefit them greatly in their lives and futures.”
Huda Saeed, 13, also expressed her hopes for better access to books. “I have read over 75 books. I hope they open a public library for us in Tal Afar because we rely heavily on reading books electronically via PDF files, which is difficult for us,” she said.
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