Maria (Kouremenou) Khoury is the author of Orthodox Christian children's books including Christina Goes to the Holy Land walking the footsteps of Christ. She is a graduate of Hellenic College (1982), Harvard University (1985) and Boston University (1992) with a doctor of education degree. Born in Tripoli, Greece, she was raised in Denver, Colorado. On Dec 31, 2009 she was included on the top 4 Human Rights Champions list by DC Human Rights Examiner including the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Hilary Clinton.

Maria is the author of Witness in the Holy Land (distributed by www.HolyCrossBookstore.com), a publication reflecting personal experiences living under military occupation with her husband the former Mayor of Taybeh, David Canaan Khoury and three children Elena, Canaan, and Constantine. Her articles have been published world-wide in numerous newspapers and magazines and have been translated to various languages bringing awareness of the Christian presence in the Holy Land. Recent reflections are found on www.soundingblog.com.

Dr. Khoury has been a volunteer at St. George Greek Orthodox Church of Taybeh, Palestine, (www.saintgeorgetaybeh.org) fundraising for a housing project (24 houses) helping sustain the small Christian community. She has also spent three years training teachers in new classroom strategies in the Latin Patriarchate Schools throughout Palestine. She served as the only female principal at the Friends Boys School of Ramallah (1996) and worked closely with church leaders in Jerusalem as a consultant for the World Council of Churches (2004) and also headed the project to establish the International Academy of Art-Palestine (2007). She served on the Advisory Council of World Vision Jerusalem and the Taybeh Education Fund which she founded as an endowment helping students with university tuition in local colleges in Palestine; She was a speaker at the International Bishops' Conference at Bethlehem University (Jan 2004) and over 140 churches throughout the United States including key note 2008 Orthodox Institute. Maria Khoury organized eight successful village festivals, the Taybeh Oktoberfest initiated in 2005 boosting the local economy during 50% unemployment reflecting non-violent action and peaceful resistance developed into the most distinctive festival in Palestine celebrating cultural heritage.

The Khourys returned to the Holy Land (1995) following the Oslo Peace Agreement boosting the economy with an investment in a microbrewery producing the one and only Palestinian beer, "Taybeh Beer" (www.taybehbeer.com) and diversified (2001) to help farmers in fair trade bottling Taybeh Olive Oil (www.taybeholiveoil.com). The "Christina Book Series," published in Jerusalem promote ancient Christian values, centuries-old traditions and spiritual growth:


Christina Goes to Church (1992)

You Are Special: An Alphabet Book for Children (1993)

My Orthodox Counting Book (1999)

Christina Learns the Sacraments (2001)

Christina's Favorite Saints (2002)

Christina Goes to the Holy Land (2003)

Christina's True Heroes (2005)

Coloring with Christina (2007)

Meet the Evangelists (2009)