Dina Nayeri

In her first work of nonfiction, winner of the 2018 UNESCO City of Literature Paul Engle Prize Dina Nayeri--an author whose "exploration of the exile's predicament is tender and urgent" (The New Yorker)--examines what it means to be a refugee through her own story of childhood escape from Iran, and through the stories of other refugees and asylum seekers.

What Immigrants Never Tell You

The Ungrateful Refugee

When the Truth Isn't Enough

Who Gets Believed?

Collecting forbidden paraphernalia in her fascination with America, young Saba Hafezi of 1980s Iran becomes convinced that her suddenly missing mother and twin sister have departed for America without her, a situation that compels her to envision her twin's Western life throughout subsequent years.

A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea

Daniel Nayeri

A devilish debut by a brother-sister team invites us into the world of the elite Marlowe School, where some gifted students are having a hell of a year. (Age 14 and up) One night, in cities all across Europe, five children vanish -- only to appear, years later, at an exclusive New York party with a strange and elegant governess. Rumor and mystery follow the Faust teenagers to the city’s most prestigious high school, where they soar to suspicious heights with the help of their benefactor’s extraordinary "gifts." But as the students claw their way up -- reading minds, erasing scenes, stopping time, stealing power, seducing with artificial beauty -- they start to suffer the sideeffects of their own addictions. And as they make further deals with the devil, they uncover secrets more shocking than their most unforgivable sins. At once chilling and wickedly satirical, this contemporary reimagining of the Faustian bargain is a compelling tale of ambition, consequences, and ultimate redemption.

Another Faust

Roddy Doyle

William Boyd

Philip Pullman

John Wood

Pico Iyer

Chigozie Obioma

Jan Morris

Candice Carty-Williams

Madeleine Thien

Robert Macfarlane

Michael Ondaatje

Jackie Morris

Imtiaz Dharker

Alice Pung

Max Porter

S.F. Said

Salley Vickers

Jancis Robinson

David Pilling

Andy Miller

Sisonke Msimang

Markus Zusak

'This story, like so many stories, begins with a gift. The gift, like so many gifts, was a book...' So begins the essay by Robert Macfarlane that inspired this collection. In this cornucopia of an anthology, you will find essays by some of the world's most beloved novelists, nonfiction writers, essayists and poets. 'You will see books taking flight in flocks, migrating around the world, landing in people's hearts and changing them for a day or a year or a lifetime. 'You will see books sparking wonder or anger; throwing open windows into other languages, other cultures, other minds; causing people to fall in love or to fight for what is right. 'And more than anything, over and over again, you will see books and words being given, received and read - and in turn prompting further generosity.' Published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of global literacy non-profit, Room to Read, The Gifts of Reading forms inspiring, unforgettable, irresistible proof of the power and necessity of books and reading. Inspired by Robert Macfarlane Curated by Jennie Orchard With contributions by: William Boyd, Candice Carty-Williams, Imtiaz Dharker, Roddy Doyle, Pico Iyer, Andy Miller, Jackie Morris, Jan Morris, Sisonke Msimang, Dina Nayeri, Chigozie Obioma, Michael Ondaatje, David Pilling Max Porter, Philip Pullman, Alice Pung, Jancis Robinson, S.F.Said, Madeleine Thien, Salley Vickers, John Wood and Markus Zusak

The Gifts of Reading

Fascinated with America, young Saba Hafezi of 1980s Iran becomes convinced that her suddenly missing mother and twin sister have departed for America without her, a situation that compels her to envision her twin's Western life throughout subsequent years.

Tutto il mare tra di noi

Ungrateful Refugee

Drei sind ein Dorf

Der undankbare Flüchtling

Philippe Sands

Christy Lefteri

Shami Chakrabarti

Simon Smith

Amy Sackville

Kyon Ferril

Pincus HERD

Seventy years after the 1951 Refugee Convention 'endeavoured to assure refugees the widest possible exercise of these fundamental rights and Freedoms', the fourth volume of Refugee Tales again shares the tales of people who have sought refuge and welcome, and instead have found themselves detained. As the coronavirus death toll rises across the world, more than ever the detention of migrants and people forced to move is a defining issue of our moment. In these new tales, poets, novelists and writers have collaborated with people who have experienced detention, their stories appearing alongside first-hand accounts of people who themselves have been detained. Here we are told what it means to experience the ongoing reality of the UK's 'hostile environment', as well as detention in Canada, Greece, Italy, and the USA. Each new story communicates the human costs of a system which fundamentally breaches human rights, and each story conveys the need for urgent political change.

Refugee Tales Volume 4

Rachel Seiffert

Maurizio Veglio

Natalia Sierra

Khodadad Mohammadi

Bidisha

Seventy years after the adoption of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the UK is guilty of undermining the very principles of asylum, inhumanely detaining those seeking protection and ushering in sweeping changes that threaten to punish refugees at every turn. But the UK’s immigration system is not alone in committing such breaches of human rights. The fourth volume of Refugee Tales explores our present international environment, combining author re-tellings with first-hand accounts of individuals who have been detained across the world. As the coronavirus pandemic defies borders – leaving those who are detained even more vulnerable – this collection shares stories spanning Canada, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and the UK, and calls for international insistence on a future without detention. Edited by Anna Pincus & David Herd. ‘Heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure. Every page is filled with quiet dignity.’ – Shobu Kapoor ‘A courageous book’ – Jackie Kay Part of the Refugee Tales series.

Volume IV

Refugee Tales

The prizewinning author of The Ungrateful Refugee asks who is believed in our society, who is not - and why? 'An ambitious and moving exploration of the borders we draw around credible victimhood that will cement Nayeri's position as a master storyteller of the refugee experience' Guardian Dina Nayeri's wide-ranging, groundbreaking new book combines deep reportage with her own life experience to examine what constitutes believability in our society. Intent on exploring ideas of persuasion and performance, Nayeri takes us behind the scenes in emergency rooms, corporate boardrooms, asylum interviews and into her own family, to ask - where lies the difference between being believed and being dismissed? What does this mean for our culture? As personal as it is profound in its reflections on language, history, morality and compassion, Who Gets Believed? investigates the unspoken social codes that determine how we relate to one another. 'An important, courageous, brilliant book' Robert Macfarlane, bestselling author of Underland 'Dina Nayeri asks an incredibly important question, and the answers she finds are crucial for all of us' Oliver Bullough, bestselling author of Butler to the World

When the Truth Isn’t Enough

In this pulse-quickening sequel to Another Faust, an ancient Egyptian spell is turning the tony Marlowe School into a sinister underworld. Will all hell break loose? Sixteen-year-old Wendy Darling and her insecure freshman brother, John, are hitting the books at the Marlowe School. But one tome consumes their attention: THE BOOK OF GATES, a coveted Egyptian artifact that their professor father believes has magical powers. Soon Wendy and John discover that the legend is real—when they recite from its pages and descend into a snaking realm beneath the Manhattan school. As the hallways darken, and dead moths cake the floor, a charismatic new R.A. named Peter reveals that their actions have unleashed a terrible consequence: the underworld and all its evil is now seeping into Marlowe. Daniel Nayeri and Dina Nayeri return to reimagine Peter Pan as a twisty, atmospheric, and fast-paced fantasy about the perils of immortality.

Another Pan

"A high-stakes conclusion that satisfies." — Kirkus Reviews Thomas, the most popular student at Marlowe, is hearing a sinister voice inside his head. As news of a vicious hate crime has students on edge, Thomas comes to the sickening realization that Madame Vileroy, who has just married his billionaire father, has involved him in a horrifying supernatural plan. The pulse-quickening climax to the Another series revisits Jekyll and Hyde as a current-day cautionary tale laced with a heady dose of paranormal intrigue.

Another Jekyll, Another Hyde

An unflinching look at ten young lives suspended outside of time—and bravely proceeding anyway—inside the Katsikas refugee camp in Greece. Every war, famine, and flood spits out survivors. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cites an unprecedented 79.5 million forcibly displaced people on the planet today. In 2018, Dina Nayeri—a former refugee herself and the daughter of a refugee—invited documentary photographer Anna Bosch Miralpeix to accompany her to Katsikas, a refugee camp outside Ioannina, Greece, to record the hopes and struggles of ten young Farsi-speaking refugees from Iran and Afghanistan. “I wanted to play with them, to enter their imagined worlds, to see the landscape inside their minds,” she says. Ranging in age from five to seventeen, the children live in partitioned shipping-crate homes crowded on a field below a mountain. Battling a dreary monster that wants to rob them of their purpose, dignity, and identity, each survives in his or her own special way. The Waiting Place is an unflinching look at ten young lives suspended outside of time—and bravely proceeding anyway. Each lyrical passage leads the reader from one story to the next, revealing the dreams, ambitions, and personalities of each displaced child. The stories are punctuated by intimate photographs, followed by the author’s reflections on life in a refugee camp. Locking the global refugee crisis sharply in focus, The Waiting Place is an urgent call to change what we teach young people about the nature of home and safety.

The Waiting Place: When Home Is Lost and a New One Not Yet Found

From the author of Refuge, a magical novel about a young Iranian woman lifted from grief by her powerful imagination and love of Western culture. Growing up in a small rice-farming village in 1980s Iran, eleven-year-old Saba Hafezi and her twin sister, Mahtab, are captivated by America. They keep lists of English words and collect illegal Life magazines, television shows, and rock music. So when her mother and sister disappear, leaving Saba and her father alone in Iran, Saba is certain that they have moved to America without her. But her parents have taught her that “all fate is written in the blood,” and that twins will live the same life, even if separated by land and sea. As she grows up in the warmth and community of her local village, falls in and out of love, and struggles with the limited possibilities in post-revolutionary Iran, Saba envisions that there is another way for her story to unfold. Somewhere, it must be that her sister is living the Western version of this life. And where Saba’s world has all the grit and brutality of real life under the new Islamic regime, her sister’s experience gives her a freedom and control that Saba can only dream of. Filled with a colorful cast of characters and presented in a bewitching voice that mingles the rhythms of Eastern storytelling with modern Western prose, A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea is a tale about memory and the importance of controlling one’s own fate.

A Novel

Alla fine degli anni ottanta, quando la sua famiglia decise di fuggire dall’Iran in guerra, Dina Nayeri era una bambina. Il rumore delle bombe, le sirene e le corse per nascondersi nel seminterrato, la poca luce filtrata dalle finestre serrate erano tutte cose normali. Negli anni a venire, sui letti a castello delle case per i rifugiati di Londra, di Dubai, di Roma, poi dell’Oklahoma, Dina conobbe per la prima volta il silenzio del sonno tranquillo e ininterrotto: quella fu la sua prima idea di cosa fosse la pace. Sua madre le diceva di pregare e di essere grata. Sui migranti sono state scritte molte storie. A partire dall’Eneide, l’esperienza di chi è costretto a fuggire non ha mai smesso di essere all’origine di narrazioni impetuose, grandi, travolgenti. Storie di singoli individui, soli contro la perdita di tutto, storie che sono universali. Dopo un clamoroso reportage uscito sul “Guardian”, The Ungrateful Refugee, Dina Nayeri si misura con la domanda più impietosa del nostro tempo: che cosa significa essere un migrante? E soprattutto: cosa succede quando chi fugge diventa un rifugiato? Qual è il prezzo della sua integrazione? La risposta è semplice. La prima regola per il rifugiato è rimanere al proprio posto. Essere meno capace, avere meno esigenze degli altri. Accontentarsi e ringraziare per l’accoglienza, accettando il destino di un terribile circolo vizioso: sei un pigro richiedente asilo, finché non diventi un intruso avido. Grazie alla propria esperienza, una grande scrittrice esplora come vive chi è costretto a fuggire, come si declina il rifiuto delle comunità di approdo, e indaga la tragedia dello straniamento dell’identità che tutti i giorni avviene sotto i nostri occhi.

L'ingrata

An unflinching look at ten young lives suspended outside of time--and bravely proceeding anyway--inside the Katsikas refugee camp in Greece. Every war, famine, and flood spits out survivors. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cites an unprecedented 79.5 million forcibly displaced people on the planet today. In 2018, Dina Nayeri--a former refugee herself and the daughter of a refugee--invited documentary photographer Anna Bosch Miralpeix to accompany her to Katsikas, a refugee camp outside Ioannina, Greece, to record the hopes and struggles of ten of them--siblings and friends from Iran and Afghanistan. "I wanted to play with them, to enter their imagined worlds, to see the landscape inside their minds," she says. Ranging in age from five to seventeen, the children live in partitioned shipping-crate homes crowded on a field below a mountain. Robbed of curiosity and purpose, dignity and identity, each battles the dreary monster of a paused life. The lyrical passages lead one into the next, punctuated by intimate photographs, to reveal the dreams, ambitions, and personalities of each displaced child, followed by a powerful account of the author's own experiences in a camp. Locking the global refugee crisis sharply in focus, The Waiting Place is an urgent call to change what we teach young people about the nature of home and safety.

“Rich and colorful… [Refuge] has the kind of immediacy commonly associated with memoir, which lends it heft, intimacy, atmosphere.” –New York Times The moving lifetime relationship between a father and a daughter, seen through the prism of global immigration and the contemporary refugee experience. An Iranian girl escapes to America as a child, but her father stays behind. Over twenty years, as she transforms from confused immigrant to overachieving Westerner to sophisticated European transplant, daughter and father know each other only from their visits: four crucial visits over two decades, each in a different international city. The longer they are apart, the more their lives diverge, but also the more each comes to need the other's wisdom and, ultimately, rescue. Meanwhile, refugees of all nationalities are flowing into Europe under troubling conditions. Wanting to help, but also looking for a lost sense of home, our grown-up transplant finds herself quickly entranced by a world that is at once everything she has missed and nothing that she has ever known. Will her immersion in the lives of these new refugees allow her the grace to save her father? Refuge charts the deeply moving lifetime relationship between a father and a daughter, seen through the prism of global immigration. Beautifully written, full of insight, charm, and humor, the novel subtly exposes the parts of ourselves that get left behind in the wake of diaspora and ultimately asks: Must home always be a physical place, or can we find it in another person?

Dina Nayeri

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