Halifax Theatre for Young People (HTYP) presents The Book of Ashes with public performances on April 16 & 23, 2025, at Alderney Landing Theatre in Dartmouth.

Based on a true event, The Book of Ashes is theatrically exciting. It uses shadow puppetry to tell the story of a librarian in Iraq who, with the help of a child, rescues over 30,000 priceless books (some dating back to the 1300s) from their library during the bombing of Iraq in 2003. All the actors are part of Nova Scotia’s Middle Eastern community.

The play by Emil Sher, who also wrote Hana’s Suitcase, is a beautiful and magical tale about surviving war and chaos while maintaining hope through community and the power of storytelling.