Hana: The audacity to be free autobiography

Hana Assafiri is a much loved and revered social activist and radical entrepreneur. Through the medium of food and dining in her now-renowned Moroccan Soup Bar, Hana has worked tirelessly to rectify the systemic and social barriers to women’s empowerment. Hana’s memoir follows her childhood between Lebanon and Australia, her arranged marriage, her numerous attempts to escape, and her ensuing career in women’s services. In 1998, she opened the Moroccan Soup Bar, which would quickly become an iconic Melbourne institution—founded on the radical notion that marginalised women, together in the kitchen, can effect social change.