As part of the new “Meet the Author” program, the Information Resource Center held a book discussion session led by Roua Sghaier, author of The Memory of the Pavement, which was honored with the 2015 Arab Creativity Award in Literature. A prolific and talented writer, Roua shared her passion for writing since childhood. In 2011, Roua was selected by the U.S. Embassy for the prestigious Between the Lines bilingual writing program which sends promising young authors to the U.S. to hone their writing skills in an intensive workshop at the University of Iowa.
Roua read select passages from her book, and answered questions from an audience of book lovers, who were eager to know more about how the idea for the book was born, how the plot took shape, and how she decided to allot space and voice to each character. Roua shared that she views writing as a creative process, requiring fantasy and imagination as well as the ability to write in various literary genres.