AROUND 70.8 million people have been displaced around the world because of war, conflict and persecution, reports the UN Refugee Agency.
On June 20, World Refugee Day, here is a selection of three novels and memoirs touching on the refugee experience.
Crossing by Pajtim Statvci (Pushkin Press/ Pantheon )
Crossing marks the second novel by Finnish-Kosovan writer Pajtim Statovci, whose family left Kosovo when he was two and who grew up in Helsinki. It follows his critically acclaimed debut, My Cat, Yugoslavia.
The novel tells the story of Bujar, who is described as “a man who cannot be a woman but can sometimes look like a woman,“ as he flees Albania with his schoolmate Agim for a better life in Europe.
As he moves from one country to another, Bujar assumes a new identity every time he crosses a border, becoming a Bosnian student in Berlin or a Turkish transgender singer in Helsinki.
Crossing,“ which is translated into English by David Hackston.
The Ungrateful Refugee : What Immigrants Never Tell You by Dina Nayeri (Canongate / Catapult )
The Ungrateful Refugee is the first long-form work of non-fiction by novelist and essayist Dina Nayeri. At the age of eight, she fled Iran along with her mother and brother to seek asylum, initially in Europe, before settling in America.
This book details her dramatic departure from her home country, as well as the two years of adjustment before “acceptance” in the United States.
It also features a collection of testimonials from other refugees, most of whom escape authoritarian governments and poverty only to be placed in crowded camps.
The Ungrateful Refugee interrogates what it means to be a refugee, challenging the perceived idea that a displaced person must assimilate to be a “good investment” for its host nation.
The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Rauf (Orion Children’s Books / Delacorte Press)
This debut novel, which scooped this year’s Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, offers a child’s perspective on the ongoing refugee crisis.
It tells the story of a group of students who embark on a daring plan to help Syrian refugee Ahmet, who just joined their class.
The children’s book was inspired by the people encountered by Onjali Q. Rauf, the founder of the London-based human rights organization Making Herstory, while she was working in refugee camps.
The Boy at the Back of the Class, features illustrations by Pippa Curnick. - AFP
