• Reading age: 3 to 5

On every day off, the child-the central character-visits his grandmother who lives in an old house amidst a flower garden at the foot of a mountain. The grandmother is full of love and tenderness. We experience one of these visits through the child's narration, relating beautiful moments and rooted in his great love and appreciation for his grandmother. Years pass by, the wheel of life turns and the child becomes a father, then a grandfather. One day he decides to visit his grandmother's house with his grandchildren. The house had been transformed into a public park, a gift to the people of the neighbourhood. During that nostalgic visit, reality mixes with imagination and the present with the man's past and he finds himself facing strange manifestations: the garden sparkles with precious stones and the fig tree near his heart bears emeralds. Only then does he discover the name chosen by the mayor for his grandmother's garden - a name that reinforces his vision of the Emerald Garden.

Architecte et écrivaine marocaine, diplômée de l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Rabat et de l'Université Paris 10 (France), Raja Malah travaille dans le domaine du développement urbain à Dubaï (Émirats Arabes Unis). Outre son activité d'architecte, elle écrit pour les enfants et les adolescents. Ses ouvrages les plus importants sont Hadyaty La Eed Miladak (Mon cadeau pour ton anniversaire), Ajnehat Taaeraty (Les ailes de mon avion), Hadyqat Al Zomorrod (Le jardin d'émeraudes) et Maw'idi ma'a al-nur (Mon rendez-vous avec la lumière). Elle a aussi publié des traductions, les plus importantes étant Anthologie de la poésie contemporaine émiratie (traduction de l'arabe au français) et Ayna Kano Yaktoboon (traduction du français à l'arabe), toutes deux publiées à Abu Dhabi. Hadyqat Al Zomorrod (Le Jardin d'émeraudes) figurait parmi les finalistes du prestigieux prix du Livre Sheikh Zayed en 2021.

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Nouha Homad has had a career as university professor teaching English and comparative literature, and French and Spanish language and literature. She is a writer, editor, certified freelance translator and artist. Syrian by birth and parentage, Homad grew up in Paris, Madrid, Rome, Cairo, Lisbon, Buenos Aires, and Damascus absorbing languages and cultural experiences along the way. She has since lived in Beirut, Amman, Washington DC, Tripoli, Aberystwyth and London, and Montreal among other places, and this has continued to enrich and influence her cosmopolitan vision. She lives in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

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