How to Grow Roots: Conversation on Plants, Migration, and Belonging

Khunfus is a publishing house based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It produces print books that bend form and genre through storytelling, aesthetics, and craftsmanship.

Alem is a researcher and writer interweaving environmental and urban histories with mythology and fiction. In 2021, she co-founded Khunfus, an independent publishing house based in Jeddah, where she acts as general manager and editor-in-chief of Khunfus’s three upcoming titles. Outside of her work in publishing, Alem works at Art Jameel as Senior Manager of Learning and Research, where she oversees learning programs and spaces including Hayy Explorers and Jameel Library, including its collections, archives, and research programs. Before joining Art Jameel, Alem was the in-house researcher at Darat Safeya Binzagr, where she led on translating her recently launched book Darzah from Arabic to English. Alem's academic background sits at the intersection of Philosophy, Middle East Studies, Gender, Environmental Humanities, and Museology with a geographic focus on the port city of Jeddah and its wider entanglements.