How Deema Al Alami Built a Powerful Publishing Vision

Books have been part of Deema Al Alami’s professional world for years, but her journey into publishing did not begin with a simple decision to become an author. It grew from a bigger question. Why were so many Arab children still struggling to find high quality books that reflected their language, culture, families and everyday experiences?

Today, Deema is an educator, author, reading advocate and entrepreneur whose work connects literacy, publishing, parenting and Arab identity. She is behind the Mother to Author program, co founded the Arab Child Summit and is building Deema Publishing as the next stage of a career focused on giving Arab stories more space.

Her journey shows what can happen when professional experience meets a problem someone feels deeply enough to solve.

Deema Al Alami Journey From the Classroom to Education Leadership

Long before becoming known for children’s books, Deema built her foundation inside education.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the American University of Beirut and a master’s degree in education from King’s College London. Her career began in the classroom, where she taught languages, art and science.

That experience later expanded into leadership and education reform. Across more than 16 years in the sector, she worked on capacity building and reform projects in the Middle East and North Africa, including initiatives connected with USAID and ministries of education.

She later spent more than seven years as a vice president at GEMS Education before deciding to focus fully on literacy.

Leaving Stability for a More Personal Mission

Walking away from an established executive career was not an instant decision.

Deema has described the transition as a gradual realisation. During years of working with educators across the region, she repeatedly saw the same problem. Many resources offered to Arab children did not fully reflect their lives, identities and cultural realities.

Eventually, talking about the gap was no longer enough.

Leaving a senior role meant giving up certainty and beginning again in a different space. But it also gave Deema the freedom to work directly on the issue she had become passionate about.

Turning Families Into Reading Families

Deema’s mission is not simply to sell more books. She has consistently spoken about helping families become reading families.

Her interest became especially personal after becoming a mother. Friends regularly asked which books they should buy and how they could encourage stronger reading habits at home.

That demand helped shape her public literacy work.

Through recommendations, workshops and educational content, Deema began helping parents and teachers make reading feel less like homework and more like a normal part of family life.

She also co founded the Alalami Book Club, which grew to more than 750 members and extended her reading advocacy to adults.

Writing the Books She Wanted Children to Have

Deema eventually moved from recommending books to writing and publishing them.

She co authored Arabic children’s titles including Min Balad Osmoh Falasteen and Hatha Jismi La Talmasni, a body safety book created for young children.

The experience showed her that demand for thoughtful Arabic children’s literature was real. Families were not simply looking for more content. They wanted books that were useful, engaging and culturally relevant.

Her work also demonstrated how children’s literature can open conversations that parents may otherwise find difficult to begin.

Mother to Author Creates Space for New Voices

Rather than keeping her publishing knowledge to herself, Deema created the From Mother to Author program in 2022.

The program guides aspiring children’s authors through developing an idea, writing a manuscript, working with illustration, publishing and marketing a book.

Its purpose reaches beyond writing technique. Deema wants more Arab voices creating the stories that children grow up reading.

The project also reached a wider audience when Deema appeared on the first season of Shark Tank and secured investment for her literacy initiative.

48 Stories of Exile Became a Mission Beyond Publishing

One of Deema’s most meaningful projects arrived in 2024 with 48 Stories of Exile from Palestine.

The book brought together real stories connected with Palestinian displacement. Deema produced and self published the title, with the first 5000 copies dedicated to fundraising for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

The project became a finalist for the Palestinian Book Awards in 2024.

For Deema, the book showed another side of publishing. Stories can preserve memory, connect generations and turn reading into action. It also reflected a theme running through much of her work. Books can become a way of protecting identity.

Building the Arab Child Summit

Deema’s work expanded again when she helped create the Annual Arab Child Summit.

The summit was designed as a space where parents, educators, specialists and community leaders could discuss the realities facing Arab children. Its themes have included language, identity, family life, education, wellbeing and raising children who feel proud of their heritage while functioning confidently in a global society.

The initiative reflects Deema’s belief that supporting children requires more than one expert or one solution. Families need communities, research, conversations and practical tools.

Deema Publishing Opens the Next Chapter

Deema is now taking another entrepreneurial step with Deema Publishing.

The publishing house is being developed around a need she has spent years identifying. Arab children need more high quality stories created from within their own cultures rather than relying mainly on imported narratives and translations.

The goal is also to support more Arab authors and illustrators in bringing those stories to life.

Alongside publishing, Deema continues to mentor writers, grow the Arab Child Summit and contribute to regional literacy initiatives, including consultancy work connected with Qatar Reads.

Her career has changed significantly from the classroom where it began, yet the purpose remains connected to education.

Deema Al Alami’s journey is ultimately about making children feel represented in the stories surrounding them. She has moved from teaching children to leading education projects, from recommending books to writing them and from identifying gaps in publishing to building platforms designed to fill them.

For parents, educators and aspiring authors, her story offers a simple reminder. When children can recognise their language, values and experiences inside books, reading can become more than a skill.

It can become a place where they recognise themselves.

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