Haifaa al-Mansour

Haifaa al-Mansour is a Saudi Arabian filmmaker and screenwriter whose novel grew from her feature film Wadjda. The Green Bicycle follows eleven-year-old Wadjda in Riyadh as she saves for a bicycle and challenges expectations about what girls should do. Puffin presents it as a middle-grade story about gender roles, conformity, family, and a determined child pursuing greater freedom. Al-Mansour brings a director’s eye to the coveted bicycle and the streets where Wadjda hopes to race her friend Abdullah. Published by Dial Books for US readers and by Puffin in Britain, the novel is a coming-of-age story grounded in Saudi life.