The past does not define us but it shapes and lives on. Sara Qasem is a poet, a high school teacher; someone who responds strongly to the flavours of her Palestinian heritage and her life here in New Zealand.Her father, Abdelfattah Qasem, was killed in the March 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks. His continuing presence in her life comes through in the poems he shared with her and the values she speaks to.
