The Servant Tapa dura - 2013

Fatima Sharafeddine was born in Beirut and spent her early childhood in Sierra Leone. Her family returned to Lebanon when she was still a child, and she spent fifteen years living through the Lebanese civil war, moving from city to city, school to school. After receiving a B.A. in Early Childhood Education, she moved to the United States to pursue her graduate studies. She earned a Masters degree in education and another in Arabic literature. She has taught preschool in Houston, Texas, and Arabic language and culture classes at Rice University. She now divides her time between Beirut and Brussels, where she writes and translates full time. Fatima is an active member of the Lebanese section of IBBY (LBBY). She has written more than eighty books for young children. The Maid is her first work for young adults. She has twice been nominated for the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and she has won a number of awards and honors in the Arab region. She divides her time between Beirut and Brussels.