Žarko Radaković’s Strah od emigracije (Fear of Emigration) is an essay that looks at the emotional and cultural difficulties experienced by migrants who return “home”. Radaković has spent years in Germany. He feels torn between two worlds: he is familiar with Serbia, but he also feels isolated in Germany. His work looks at how a …
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Stevan Tontić’s Sarajevo Manuscript, written after he fled the Bosnian War, is a haunting account of the breakdown of a shared Yugoslav identity and the devastation of exile. His poetry and essays show the great sadness and confusion of seeing your country being destroyed while trying to stay true to your artistic and intellectual beliefs. …
Read more “Stevan Tontić – Handschrift aus Sarajevo (Sarajevo Manuscript)”
Kazem Haideri is an Iranian poet who lives in Italy. His poetry is evocative and often sparse, and he has greatly enriched Italian literature. His work, which was recognised by the famous Eugenio Montale International Poetry Prize, often looks at the loneliness and spiritual searching that come with being forced to leave your home country. …
Salah Methnani’s Immigrato, written after Italy’s Martelli Law reforms, is a sad story about the difficulties faced by North African migrants trying to find dignity and feel at home in a new country. Methnani’s writing is a mix of diary and social commentary. It shows what it is like to be “othered” (to be treated …
Pap Khouma’s autobiographical novel I Was an Elephant Salesman is one of the firstexamples of literature by migrants in Italy. He tells the story of his days as a street vendorin Milan, a busy city where he faced racism and problems with the authorities. Khouma’sstory is full of sharp humour and self-awareness, which help him …
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Rodaan Al Galidi’s Two Blankets, Three Sheets is a very personal and often humorous story about life in a Dutch asylum centre. Because he was refused support to learn Dutch, Al Galidi taught himself the language. This made the most of the time he spent waiting and not knowing what would happen. He turned this …
The House of the Mosque originally written in Dutch and published in 2005 by KaderAbdolah it narrates the story of a family living beside a mosque in a quiet Iranian town—where daily life slowly begins to shift as revolution creeps in. At the centre is Aqa Jaan,trying to keep things as they’ve always been, while …
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