CECILE SARRUF

"A creative writer writes  with or without pen to page."

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At three, I would sit at my mother’s feet in San Fernando Valley, California and watch her paint. There were no toys. I had no coloring books either -- just blank sheets of paper to create my own world on. My first languge was French. I did not read nor write English until the age of six, when I first entered a parochial school in Seattle, WA. I had to unlearn French and relearn it when our family moved to Quebec, Canada within a year's time.

Back in SoCal, we moved to Palos Verdes where, one day, an English teacher caught me gazing out the classroom's back window. She gave me a copy of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. I was thirteen. I immediatly felt inspired to write my own stories, so  I tried my hand on the page. Unfortunatly, my mother snatched the notebook out of my hands, “what are you writing?” A story, I told her. With an incredulous look in her eye, typical of an immigrant to a new country, she snatched it away. Speaking out and calling attention to one's self was not customary for a girl within her culture. By the time I hit high school, I identified as an artist, classically trained musician and theater enthusiast.

At 14, I wrote my first ever piece, a short humerous story on a neighboring boy. To my surprise, the class broke out in laughter. It was then that I discovered the power of the pen.

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I was a two time art scholarship recipient with 100 pieces of finished artwork by the time I turned 19, with a degree in fine art. After obtaining an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles, I found myself teaching English in Southeast Los Angeles in an Islamic school, something I had never counted on, nor planned for. It was here that I accepted an invitation to a fellow comrade's sister's wedding in Lebanon. Some may call it luck. I call it fate. If it weren’t for Lebanon, I would not have eventually written a full completed manuscript about my experiences within the Shia Lebanese community, and my subsequent trip to Lebanon.

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In 2016, following brain surgery, I found myself in a very dark place. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to discover, and join, a vibrant writing community within Laguna Beach, California. Through Third Street Writers, I fostered comradeship and gained opportunity as an editor and author for their various publications. 

Currently, I am and have been  an active participant in the organization's publications and public readings. 

Below, please find an excerpt from my yet to be published manuscript: Kitchen in Beirut; a Memoir Braving Cultural Crossroads

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My motto:​

 "If you find a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it." Toni Morrison

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