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.

'A beautifully rendered, timely picture book created with heart' Books+Publishing

About the Author

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 the Illustrator

Maxine Beneba Clarke is a widely published Australian writer of Afro-Caribbean descent. Maxine's short fiction, non-fiction and poetry have been published in numerous publications including Overland, The Age, Meanjin, The Saturday Paper and The Big Issue. Her critically acclaimed short fiction collection Foreign Soil won the ABIA for Literary Fiction Book of the Year 2015 and the 2015 Indie Book Award for Debut Fiction, and was shortlisted for the Matt Richell Award for New Writing at the 2015 ABIAs and the 2015 Stella Prize. She was also named as one of the Sydney Morning Herald's Best Young Novelists for 2015.

Maxine has published three poetry collections including Carrying the World, which won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Poetry 2017 and was shortlisted for the Colin Roderick Award. The Hate Race, a memoir about growing up black in Australia won the NSW Premier's Literary Award Multicultural NSW Award 2017 and was shortlisted for an ABIA, an Indie Award, the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and Stella Prize. The Patchwork Bike, Maxine's first picture book with Van T. Rudd was a CBCA Honour Book for 2017. Her children's books include Wide, Big World, Fashionista and When We Say Black Lives Matter.