Google News Alert - AN extraordinary woman who survived against all odds in Yemen to become an internationally recognised film-maker and author will be in Bahrain this weekend. Khadija Al Salami will sign copies of her autobiography at a ceremony on Saturday. Her book, The Tears of Sheba, documents her personal struggle for survival in Yemen in the 1960s, where loyalty, blood ties and honour meant everything. Yet, murder, forced marriages, family feuds and public beheadings were common.
The author speaks of a childhood devastated by the impact of civil war, in a culture that allowed her to be married at the age of 10 to an older man she had never met.
Her life was devastated by the civil war, which mentally destroyed her father and left him unable to care for his family.
Determined to escape the poverty, death and destruction that permeated her life, and with extraordinary tenacity, Ms Al Salami asked the local radio station to let her broadcast a programme for children.
She later used the money that she earned to travel to the US and forge a new life for herself.
She graduated from Washington DC's Mount Vernon College and, after undertaking postgraduate study in film production, returned to Yemen to continue working at the Yemeni TV station.
She subsequently joined the Yemeni Embassy, Paris, where she is press and cultural counsellor.
Ms Al Salami has received several medals of honour, the latest this year, as well as the rank of Knight (Chevalier) from the French government.
The signing ceremony will take place at the La Fontaine Centre of Contemporary Art's Moon Courtyard, Manama, from 8pm on Saturday.
The book will be available in both paperback and hardcover editions.
It will also be available at all Al Hilal Bookshop outlets across Bahrain following the ceremony.
Ms Al Salami's latest film, Amina, will also be screened at 9pm on the night.
The film presents a chilling account of the life of a woman prisoner on death row in a Yemeni prison.
The book launch and movie form part of the centre's Doors to Yemen festival, which celebrates Yemeni culture, jewellery and artefacts.
It starts at 8pm on Friday, with jewellery and architectural ornamentation exhibition by antique dealer Mohamed Al Thamari.
The exhibition is free on the opening night and will continue until the end of the year.
The centre will also host a talk on Yemeni civilisation by Professor Mohammed Maraqten of the University of Marburg, Germany, at 9pm.
Syrian Sufi singer Omar Sarmini will perform at the centre, from 9pm on October 16. Entry is BD12 for the concert or BD18 for the concert and dinner.