Escape from Bussorah Street
Written by A.K. Zai
middle grade Category
Life is bustling on Bussorah Street, and yet, Zak is feeling restless. All he wants is to be a sepak raga trainer, but his father insists that he learn the family trade of tailoring. And he's not looking forward to the upcoming circumcision ritual, a rite of passage that all Muslim boys must go through to become a man...and Zak's definitely not ready to be a grownup. But when the war arrives on the street, it shakes up Zak's world at the core. It is through immense love and loss that Zak comes into his own.
A.K. Zai (Author)
A.K. Zai’s love for literature began in the 1970s at Crescent Girls’ Secondary School, where she was taught by an amazingly eloquent teacher, Mrs Wong, to think critically when reading and writing. In the 1980s, Zai took up a creative writing course through correspondence with The Writing School in Australia, following up with attending classes in critical thinking and creative writing at the City College of Alameda in SF Bay Area. In 1992, Zai submitted her 10,000 word realistic fiction to the Singapore Literature Prize’s first ever writing competition. Since then, Zai has been writing poetry, drama scripts and short stories for competitions and for pleasure.