Overview

""A simmering, wide-ranging collection of informative nonfiction. Our verdict: Get it."" -- Kirkus Reviews Two schoolgirls in Yemen skip class, and wander into a yellow circus tent. A woman in Beirut is heartsick, waiting for her kidnapped parrot to return. A Jordanian man curses his loud, ignorant neighbors during a maddening, hot summer stuck in his Amman apartment. This is an ambitious collection of short memoirs from 35 countries, a first-class ticket around the world to make friends with 41 real-life strangers, an ensemble that offers a contemporary view of Muslim cultures around the world. Each story reveals a depth of human experience in a way that you can't help but recognize your own. An antidote to apathy in a world increasingly at odds with its own values, this book is one we didn't know we needed until we found it. ""In these stories, we encounter death and destruction...but we also see love, resilience, and courage... stories that examine the internal wars fought by many people: to cope with emerging sexuality, straight and queer; to gain the acceptance of a community into which one has migrated or fled or sought asylum... the pains of growing up, the riotous adventures of childhood, the safe and loving arms of mothers, fathers, uncles and aunts, and always, the question: what and where is home?"" Bina Shah, from her foreword in The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human. The talented writers you'll meet: Hanan Al-Shaykh, Leila Aboulela, Indlieb Farazi Saber, Abeer Y. Hoque, Kamin Mohammadi, Ali Bader, Sholeh Wolpé, Youssef Rakha, Threa Almontaser, k. eltinaé, Sepideh Zamani, Medina Tenour Whiteman, Saedia Rouass, Asma Elbadawi, Hisham Bustani, Noreen Moustafa, Samina Hadi-Tabassum, Shokouh Moghimi, Barrak Alzaid, Lydia Abedeen, Duaa Randhawa, Ameena Hussein, H. Masud Taj, Neymat Raboobee, Mona Merhi, Samini Najmi, Criselda Yabes, Tharik Hussain, Marina Reza, Naazish YarKhan, Wasan Qasim, Shiraza Ibrahim, Fatima Muhammed, Amika Elfendi, Salahdin Imam, Wardah Abbas, Shirazuddin Siddiqi, Samia Ahmed, Erdağ Göknar, Summi Siddiqui, and Amira Pierce. ""A collection that throbs with an authentic, earnest vulnerability. It is more soul-baring dinner conversations with fascinating strangers than a detached observation piece."" -Amanda Chin ""Each story is raw and beautifully written. This anthology is worthy of applause."" -Valerie Joy

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Based in Sri Lanka, Marguerite Richards is an American writer and memoir editor, working with people living everywhere to tell their life stories. She holds degrees in literature and translation, has taught in France and Chile, and fell in love with magazine publishing in New York. She has worked on articles and essays published in many places, but she has found her calling with books. The second edition of her debut short memoir collection, The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human (1st ed, Penguin SEA, 2019) is set to launch worldwide in June 2024.

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