Nada Samih-Rotondo is a multi-genre Palestinian American writer, educator, and mother. A graduate of Rhode Island College, she earned degrees in English and Education and an MFA in creative writing from Lesley University. When she is not befriending trees or attuning to hidden stories, she is leading transformational educational experiences and addressing the social-emotional needs of historically underserved and multilingual youth.
Her writing has appeared in Masters Review, Gulf Stream Literary Magazine, and Squat Birth Journal. She lives in Providence with her husband and three children and works at Brown Universityโs Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice as the Public Education and Community Engagement Coordinator. All Water Has a Perfect Memory is her first book.
PUBLICATION BY JADED IBIS PRESS
A memoir that takes readers from the authorโs ancestral origins- the coast of Yaffa, Palestine, eventually landing on the shores of Rhode Island. The narrative confronts generations of silence and ultimately, revelation with an imaginative blend of folklore that explores the relationship between our bodies, ancestors, and the Earth.
“In her stunning debut memoir, Nada Samih-Rotondo defiantly recounts her journey from Kuwait to America, her fraught coming-of-age in a household continually on the brink of collapse, and her fight for self-possession in a society so eager to deny it. Samihโs spare yet evocative words gift us with the power of her tenacity and resilience and demands that we, too, must do our part in the fight against injustice.”
– Ly Ky Tran, author of House of Sticks
This memoir was released on September 27, 2023. Order now on Bookshop or Barnes & Noble!
