This lyrical hybrid memoir revisits a lifetime’s worth of personal journals to slowly piece together a narrative of chronic illness–a moving account of survival, memory, loss, and hope.
Shahd Alshammari is just eighteen when she is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and told by her neurologist that she would not make it past age thirty. Despite what she is told, by thirty, she has become a professor of literature, and has managed to navigate education systems in both Kuwait and the United Kingdom and inspire generations of students.
Head above Water is the intimate, philosophical memoir of Shahd Alshammari’s life of triumph and resistance, as a woman marked “ill” by society and as a lifelong reader, student, and teacher. Charting her journey with raw honesty, Alshammari explores disability, displacement, and belonging–not only of the body, but of culture, gender, and race, and imparts wisdom of profound philosophical value throughout. It is people, human connections, that keep us afloat, she argues–“and in storytelling we have the power to gain a sense of agency over our lives.”
Author: Shahd Alshammari
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Feminist Press
Published: 07/18/2023
Pages: 176
Weight: 0.35lbs
Size: 7.90h x 4.90w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781952177071
Language: English
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