{"id":15888,"date":"2022-12-27T19:35:32","date_gmt":"2022-12-28T00:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/?page_id=15888"},"modified":"2026-06-12T21:09:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T01:09:49","slug":"zoulfa-katouh","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/authors\/zoulfa-katouh\/","title":{"rendered":"Zoulfa Katouh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Zoulfa Katouh is a Syrian Canadian based in Switzerland. She has a bachelor degree in pharmacy and is currently pursuing a masters degree in drug sciences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction (Young adult)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As Long As the Lemon Tree Grows<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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 had a normal teenager\u2019s life. 
 
Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors daily. Secretly, though, she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. So desperate, that she has manifested a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion, Khawf, who haunts her every move in an effort to keep her safe. 
 
But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive. Salama must contend with bullets and bombs, military assaults, and her shifting sense of morality before she might finally breathe free. And when she crosses paths with the boy she was supposed to meet one 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\u2014not a war, but a revolution\u2014and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria\u2019s freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

2023 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award<\/a> (Finalist)
2023 Governor General’s Literary Awards–Young People’s Literature: Text, English <\/a>(Finalist)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction (Young adult)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Seventeen-year-old Jihad Dabbagh has always seen life with a heightened sense for colors, one of many magical blessings the women in her family possess. But Jihad\u2019s gift changes depending on her mood. When depression sets in, the world is a colorless oasis, and in the wake of her mother\u2019s sudden death, the world has become a permanent shade of grey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broken by tragedy, Jihad\u2019s family doesn\u2019t believe her color loss. Her father sends her to the elite Braxton Academy to finish her senior year. There, Jihad\u2019s name and hijab put a target on her back. Her haven comes in the form of an old sketchbook carved from a tree in her hometown in Syria\u2014a country she only knew through her mother\u2019s stories. Jihad hasn\u2019t picked up a brush in over a year, but finds herself channeling the colors of her hurt, pain, and grief as she paints the story of her mother\u2019s journey in Syria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When graffiti of that same mural starts magically popping up all over New York, her art goes viral and the world takes notice, the threat of legal consequences is imminent. To reclaim her voice, Jihad will have to paint a new future for herself and Braxton, guided by the resilience of her mother\u2019s story. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Zoulfa Katouh personal website<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Little, Brown and Company (an imprint of Hachette Group)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zoulfa Katouh is a Syrian Canadian based in Switzerland. She has a bachelor degree in pharmacy and is currently pursuing a masters degree in drug sciences. Fiction (Young adult) As Long As the Lemon Tree Grows New York: Little, Brown … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":16,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-15888","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15888"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22269,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15888\/revisions\/22269"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}