WHAT IS THIS CAMP ABOUT?

An one-of-a-kind opportunity for girls aged 8 - 12 year old girls to learn the art of storytelling and performance with world-renowned storytellers Ustada Maryam Sinclair and Dr Bano Murtuja. 

A unique summer storytelling extravaganza!

SAMPLE DAY

9:00 AM -10:00 AM
○ Arrival
○ Opening Supplications
○ Intention-Setting
○ Introductions & Ice-breakers
​
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM 
Discussion and Storytelling Demonstrations by Dr. Bano and Ustadha Maryam:
    
○ Differences between fiction and fact
○ The truth of Islam and its traditions
○ The demonstrable Reality of the Revelation
○ The tremendous scholarship behind the Hadith Literature
○ The use of fiction to reiterate moral messages and demonstrate good character 

11:30 AM -12:15 PM
○ Physical Activity
○ Singing of Sacred Songs

12:15 PM - 1:15 PM
○ Lunch

1:30 PM - 1:45 PM
○ Dhuhr Prayer

1:45 PM - 3:30 PM
○ Meeting our Stories

3:30 PM - 4:00 PM 
○ Sharing Responses
○ Closing Supplications
○ Parent Pick-up & Departure

Meet The Instructors!

Maryam Sinclair is an acclaimed writer and storyteller.

Featured some fifty years ago on the Vermont Council on the Arts Artists-in-Residence and Performing Artists Registers, and awarded an esteemed Vermont Council on the Humanities Fellowship, she founded The Serendipity School in Vermont, a storytelling school for children, teens, and educators, which ran for ten years. 

She then made hijra nearly forty years ago to Turkey and then to Jordan, where she studied Islamic Sciences, Arabic, and Qur’an.

In 2005 her book Miraculous Happenings in the Year of the Elephant won 2nd Place in the UK Islamic Foundation’s Writing for Children Contest, and in 2011 her book When Wings Expand won in the UK Muslim Writers Association Competition. 

The Bowing of the Stars, Qur’an’s “Best of Stories,” has just been released by Kube Publishing. She has produced five audio books and travels the world, with permission to do so from a qualified Jordanian fiqh scholar, presenting her narrations, which, according to the Late Grand Mufti of Jordan,  Ali Salman Quda, may Allah be pleased with him, ‘will surely inspire love.’

​She continues her work from the UK, touring her live performances worldwide, re-establishing her acclaimed storytelling workshops, and providing online classes for families and children on the lives of the Prophets of Allah.

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Dr Bano Murtuja has studied various Islamic sciences around the world for over two decades. Her primary passion is the biography of the Prophet Mohammed ﷺ, and the relevant historical narratives connected to it.

Dr Bano effortlessly intertwines Islamic history with storytelling and other arts.  She is the writer, narrator and producer of the critically acclaimed podcast, Stories From The Seerah ﷺ, on the life and times of the Prophet ﷺ. The podcast’s listenership spans over 20 countries around the world, on 6 continents. 

Dr Bano is in the process of establishing an all-inclusive Homeschooling curriculum for English Math and Science, that is rooted in the biography of the Prophet ﷺ.  Dr Bano, her husband singer/songwriter Nader Khan, and the Detroit-based poet Tariq Toure have written “The Last Prophet ﷺ”, a Musical Monologue that intends to take the traditions narrative of the life of the Prophet ﷺ to mainstream theatre.

​Dr Bano continues to teach classes on various Islamic sciences to adults and children both online and in-person, and resides with her family in Toronto.

Whenever I reflect on when I felt happiest in my life, I think about working with you [Maryam Sinclair] at Serendipity School, some 45 years ago!  - JB, Vt.

My daughter loves the stories told by Bano. Her way of teaching truly makes a difference in making her fall in love with the Prophets and the Seerah. She is kind and patient as well as exciting and full of aspiration! - AB, Ontario