Prolific local author Najah Shuqair will be signing copies of her new cookbook at the Book Keeper on April 23.
Copies of Shuqair’s Quick and Easy Cookbook: A Recipe and A Poem can be scooped up and signed by the author from 2 to 3 pm inside the store.
Shuqair originally released her cookbook – filled with Middle Eastern recipes as well as lively poems – last December but due to COVID restrictions, the Jordanian-born author could not hold any launch events.
Fittingly, with April being National Poetry Month in Canada, Shuqair is residents inviting to pick up a signed copy of her most recent book.
“Basically, what I’ll be doing is I’m going to read some of my poems and talk about the book and the recipes. I’ll read some of the funnier poems from the book,” she said.
Half of the proceeds from sales of the cookbook will go towards the Women’s Interval Home of Sarnia-Lambton, a cause near and dear to Shuqair. The book was made possible in part thanks to funding from the Creative County Grant Program, which supported half the expense of publishing the book.
An informal affair, Shuqair is hoping to see both familiar faces along with some new ones. Not only is her cookbook good for the body, she said, as all the recipes are healthy and easy to make, but the book is also good for the mind, with playful and positive poetry scattered throughout.
“Lots of people who first bought my book gave them away as gifts, because it was released around Christmas time,” Shuqair said with a laugh. “So I invited them to the book signing and told them they could pick up another copy.”
The cookbooks will be selling for $20 apiece.
With the help of her son Sal, Shuqair has also started up her own YouTube cooking channel to share her recipes in both English and Arabic. It can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpyduTcVqIExd2buvzdCcGg.