Delphine Minoui

'The Book Collectors of Daraya celebrates the political and therapeutic power of the written word . . . defiant and cautiously optimistic' Financial Times'[An] incredible chronicle . . . The book tells the kind of story that often gets buried beneath images of violence' LitHub In 2012 the rebel suburb of Daraya in Damascus was brutally besieged by Syrian government forces. Four years of suffering ensued, punctuated by shelling, barrel bombs and chemical gas attacks. People’s homes were destroyed and their food supplies cut off; disease was rife. Yet in this man-made hell, forty young Syrian revolutionaries embarked on an extraordinary project, rescuing all the books they could find in the bombed-out ruins of their home town. They used them to create a secret library, in a safe place, deep underground. It became their school, their university, their refuge. It was a place to learn, to exchange ideas, to dream and to hope. Based on lengthy interviews with these young men, conducted over Skype by the award-winning French journalist Delphine Minoui, The Book Collectors of Daraya is a powerful testament to freedom, tolerance and the power of literature.Translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud.

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR "An urgent and compelling account of great bravery and passion." --Susan Orlean Award-winning journalist Delphine Minoui recounts the true story of a band of young rebels, a besieged Syrian town, and an underground library built from the rubble of war Reading is an act of resistance. Daraya is a town outside Damascus, the very spot where the Syrian Civil War began. Long a site of peacefulresistance to the Assad regimes, Daraya fell under siege in 2012. For four years, no one entered or left, and aid was blocked. Every single day, bombs fell on this place--a place of homes and families, schools and children, now emptied and broken into bits. And then a group searching for survivors stumbled upon a cache of books in the rubble. In a week, they had six thousand volumes; in a month, fifteen thousand. A sanctuary was born: a library where people could escape the blockade, a paper fortress to protect their humanity. The library offered a marvelous range of books--from Arabic poetry to American self-help, Shakespearean plays to stories of war in other times and places. The visitors shared photos and tales of their lives before the war, planned how to build a democracy, and tended the roots of their community despite shell-shocked soil. In the midst of the siege, the journalist Delphine Minoui tracked down one of the library's founders, twenty-three-year-old Ahmad. Over text messages, WhatsApp, and Facebook, Minoui came to know the young men who gathered in the library, exchanged ideas, learned English, and imagined how to shape the future, even as bombs kept falling from above. By telling their stories, Minoui makes a far-off, complicated war immediate and reveals these young men to be everyday heroes as inspiring as the books they read. The Book Collectors is a testament to their bravery and a celebration of the power of words.

‘This is an urgent and compelling account of great bravery and passion. Delphine Minoui has crafted a book that champions books and the individuals who risk everything to preserve them.’ Susan Orlean, author of The Library Book In 2012 the rebel suburb of Daraya in Damascus was brutally besieged by Syrian government forces. Four years of suffering ensued, punctuated by shelling, barrel bombs and chemical gas attacks. People’s homes were destroyed and their food supplies cut off; disease was rife. Yet in this man-made hell, forty young Syrian revolutionaries embarked on an extraordinary project, rescuing all the books they could find in the bombed-out ruins of their home town. They used them to create a secret library, in a safe place, deep underground. It became their school, their university, their refuge. It was a place to learn, to exchange ideas, to dream and to hope. Based on lengthy interviews with these young men, conducted over Skype by the award-winning French journalist Delphine Minoui, The Book Collectors of Daraya is a powerful testament to freedom, tolerance and the power of literature.Translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud.

The compelling story of how a group of young Syrian rebels found hope in the midst of war - hope that came from books

A lucid, moving view into an often obscured part of our world, exploring notions of democracy, identity, and the resilience of the human spirit In the wake of losing her beloved grandfather, Delphine Minoui decided to visit Iran for the first time since the revolution. It was 1998. She was twenty-two and a freshly minted journalist. She would stay for ten years. Quickly absorbed into the everyday life of the city, Minoui attends secret dance parties that are raided by the morality police and dines in the home of a young couple active in the Basij--the fearsome militia. She befriends veteran journalists battling government censorship, imprisoned student poets, and her own grandmother (a woman who is discovering the world of international affairs through her contraband satellite TV). And so it is all the more crushing when the political situation falters. Minoui joins street protests teeming with students hungry for change and is interrogated by the secret police; she sees a mirrored rise in the love of country--the yearning patriotism of the left, the militant nationalism of the right. Friends disappear; others may be tracking her movements. She finds love, loses her press credentials, marries, and is separated from her husband by erupting global conflict. Through it all, her love for Iran and its people deepens. In her family's past she discovers a mission that will shape her entire future. Framed as a letter to her grandfather and filled with disarming characters in momentous times, I'm Writing You from Tehran is a remarkable blend of global history, family memoir, and the making of a reporter, told by someone both insider and outsider--a child of the diaspora who is a world-class political journalist.

DEN SANNA BERÄTTELSEN BAKOM FILMEN 'Nojoom - Age 10 and divorced'! Sanaa i Jemen. Nujood Ali lever som barn gör mest. Livet kretsar kring skolan, kompisarna på gatan och den stora familjen. Men barndomen får ett plötsligt slut. Strax innan hon ska fylla tio gifts hon bort i ett arrangerat äktenskap och säljs till en okänd man, mer än tjugo år äldre än henne själv. För sådant är livet, menar mamma Shoya, alla kvinnor måste gå igenom detta. Från huvudstaden förs hon ut på landsbygden till ett liv med övergrepp, våld och misshandel. Förtvivlad och övergiven beslutar hon sig för att rymma. När tillfället kommer flyr hon i skydd av burkan, tillbaka in mot huvudstaden. Hon vill leva ett annat liv.Jag heter Nujood är den sanna berättelsen om hur en kortväxt flicka i Jemen trotsar traditionerna och mot alla odds blir den första barnbrud som genom domstolsbeslut får rätt att själv bestämma över sitt liv och sin kropp. Det är också en historia om hederskultur, identitet och längtan efter jämlikhet sett genom ett barns ögon. Det är en stark skildring av ett dysfunktionellt och segregerat samhälle, men på samma gång en vacker berättelse om en ung flicka som vågar stå upp för sin rätt att vara barn i frihet. Nujood Alis fall har rönt stor internationell uppmärksamhet och boken är översatt till fler än tjugo språk. Filmen om Nujood Alis fall heter I am Nojoom - Age 10 and divorced. Min resa är ingenting jämfört med det mod denna unga kvinna bär. Kan hon så kan vi alla ta modet i hand och våga hoppa. Vår yngsta kvinnorättskämpe! Malin BerghagenEn av de största kvinnor jag någonsin mött. Genom sitt mod har hon banat väg för förändring. Hillary ClintonHon är världens yngsta kvinnorättskämpe och en symbol i kampen för barnens rättigheter. AftonbladetEn mäktig berättelse. En av världens modigaste flickor heter Nujood Ali. New York TimesGivetvis är det en historia som formligen klistrar sig fast i huvudet, som man går och tänker på länge efteråt, Sundsvalls tidning

"I'm a simple village girl who has always obeyed the orders of my father and brothers. Since forever, I have learned to say yes to everything. Today I have decided to say no." Nujood Ali's childhood came to an abrupt end in 2008 when her father arranged for her to be married to a man three times her age. With harrowing directness, Nujood tells of abuse at her husband's hands and of her daring escape. With the help of local advocates and the press, Nujood obtained her freedom--an extraordinary achievement in Yemen, where almost half of all girls are married under the legal age. Nujood's courageous defiance of both Yemeni customs and her own family has inspired other young girls in the Middle East to challenge their marriages. Hers is an unforgettable story of tragedy, triumph, and courage.