On this week's show I spoke to the lovely and hugely talented Hiba, who is also a dear friend of mine. On 6th July, Hiba's first children's novel, Safiyyah's War, hit bookshelves in the UK, and in this episode we talk about the beautiful book.  Hiba's book is about a part of history that we know so little about - the resistance movement against the Holocaust that was run from the Grand Mosque of Paris. In the book, our protagonist, 11-year-old Safiyyah ends up in the middle of the movement, bravely sacrificing so much to help those in trouble.  I asked Hiba about what led her to writing children's stories, and what we can do to gently introduce young minds to serious themes and issues such as war and persecution. We talked about cats, strawberry bonbons, friendship, family, courage, dreaming, Paris, hidden histories and so much more.  Hiba Noor Khan is the author of 6 books for children, including Safiyyah's War, How to Spaghettify your Dog, The Little War Cat, Inspiring Inventors and One Home. The Little War Cat, published in 2020 was long-listed for the Jhalak Prize and the UKLA Book Award and her work has been translated into Swedish, Korean, Turkish, Breton, Chinese, and counting. She secretly wants to be an explorer, and is happiest surrounded by nature, especially near the ocean. I hope you love this episode as much as I do.  Connect with me on social media - I'd love to hear from you. www.instagram.com/readwithsamia www.instagram.com/thediversebookshelfpod  Support the show