Where the Jasmine Blooms
Meet Zeina
Zeina Sleiman is a Palestinian Canadian writer who lives in amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton). She is a Tin House workshop alum and former mentee in Canada’s Writers Union BIPOC Connect Program. She is the recipient of grants from the Silk Road Institute, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Edmonton Arts Council.
Where the Jasmine Blooms is her debut novel and will be available April 22, 2025.
Her love of books extends to the community. At IslamicFamily, an Edmonton-based social services agency, Zeina volunteers as their Librarian-in-Residence and curates reading lists for the community based on rotating themes.
Zeina holds a PhD in political science and works in post-secondary education where she has taught courses in politics, specialized in research on newcomer and citizenship related issues and works with and businesses to create barrier free spaces. She’s also the author of an academic book Sanctuary Regions and the Struggle for Belonging, which documents how stateless and undocumented folks make claims for human rights.
When she’s not working or writing, she likes to spend time with her husband and children, experimenting with new crochet patterns or exploring new worlds and people as she journey’s through her never-ending list of books.
Yasmine enters Lebanon escaping a messy divorce and seeking the family, culture, and connection that her Palestinian mother hid during their life in Toronto. It’s 2006, and she’s meeting her cousin Reem for the first time after connecting over social media. Reem teaches Arabic and lives in a refugee camp with her mother and sister. Her brother Ahmed lived there too until he went to Syria for work and then disappeared. When Yasmine receives a package of mysterious letters suggesting her father might still be alive, the cousins embark on a discovery of political secrets no one in the family wants them to know.
Complicating her questions about identity, belonging, and healing even further, Yasmine runs into Ziyad — an old flame who’s incidentally taking Reem’s class. Though Yasmine’s and Reem’s lives could not be more different, they must learn from each other as they navigate abusive relationships, grief, displacement, and war.
Set amid the arid glamour of Lebanon’s beaches and urban landscapes, Where the Jasmine Blooms is at once a political historical thriller and a Muslim feminist love story. Turn-of-the-century Arab politics feature prominently, echoing loudly even twenty years later.
The book is available wherever books are sold, but please support your local bookstore!
About The Book
Advanced Praise
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“A powerful story of family, generational trauma and Palestinian identity, Zeina Sleiman’s debut novel is an engaging and bittersweet story about secrets, both acknowledged and hidden. A compelling read.”
Uzma Jalaluddin, author of Ayesha At Last
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“Where the Jasmine Blooms poses the complexity of the mysteries that haunt and impact us, the lengths one will go to find the truth. Through immersive prose and thought-provoking characters, Zeina Sleiman delivers a story that pierces the core of how hard it can be to reckon with the world around us in the midst of turmoil. She beautifully depicts how necessary this journey is for preservation and healing.”
Jennifer Baker, editor, Everyday People: The Color of Life
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“Where the Jasmine Blooms is a potent and absorbing novel about Palestinians navigating the varied cruelties of their exile, in both the war-ridden East and the false comfort of the West. Zeina Sleiman is an authentic, clear-eyed storyteller, and her characters are seekers of love, redemption, and ownership of their personal narratives. This is a book full of resonances for our time.
Saeed Teebi, author of Her First Palestinian
Upcoming events.
Other Writing & Reflections
A prelude to Where the Jasmine Blooms
PodCastle Episode Narrated by Zeina Sleiman
Get in touch.
Currently booking interviews, visits and talks. For wholesale or ARC copies please connect with orders@fernpub.ca