Our Dreams of Jasmine on Valentine's Day

Our Dreams of Jasmine is a book and digital sound work that brings together a selection of found and written Arabic and Persian poems, chosen, performed and adapted by Jessica El Mal working with women with experience of migration living in Bootle.

Love is an act of resistance in the face of oppression and injustice, which transcends borders and languages. In a time when the world seems full of conflict, the messages of love and friendship expressed in Our Dreams of Jasmine are more important now than ever.

This Valentines Day, we invite you to consider today as more than a day for romantic relationships but to honour friendship, love for community, nature and humanity. You can now listen to the sound piece online here for one week only from Valentine’s Day 14th February and the book is available to read in all of Sefton's libraries and libraries across the country such as The Feminist Library in London and Manchester Poetry Library.

Take a moment to pause, enjoy the sound work, and let its message wash over you. Forward the love by sharing with a friend or someone dear.

“The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others.” - bell hooks

Our Dreams of Jasmine is a project for At the Library commissioned by Rule of Threes Arts and Sefton Libraries. Sound work by Jessica El Mal, Yasmeen Soudani, and Rita Kamale. Book design and production by Heidi and Halah El-Kholy/Salt and Sister Studio.