11 Powerful Books by Refugee Authors That Will Change How You See The World

With growing numbers of people fleeing war, famine and climate change across the world, it’s never been more important to amplify refugee voices. At the end of last year, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, shared that there were 42.7 million refugees globally, with 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced. So, to mark World Refugee Day this 20 June, Service95 recommends authors from around the world whose work – and message – shouldn’t be missed.

1. We Are Not Numbers: The Voices of Gaza’s Youth, edited by Ahmed Alnaouq and Pam Bailey 

We Are Not Numbers was born out of an initiative pairing young Palestinian writers with mentors from around the world to help develop and refine their narrative. Now, some of these experiences have been collated into a book shining a light on the realities, emotions and everyday worlds of both those living in Gaza, and those who have found a way to leave. Read an extract from the book here.

2. The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You by Dina Nayeri 

Aged eight, Dina Nayeri fled Iran along with her mother and brother, and lived in the crumbling shell of an Italian hotel-turned-refugee camp. Dina’s own story is woven together with those of other asylum seekers: women gathering to prepare the noodles that remind them of home, a closeted queer man trying to make his case truthfully as he seeks asylum and a translator attempting to help new arrivals present their stories to officials.

3. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son, Little Dog, to a mother who cannot read. With a family history rooted in Vietnam, it is a story of the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, and also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, sexuality and masculinity. This is a novel that asks the question: how do we survive, and make of it a kind of joy? Watch Ocean’s conversation with Dua about the book here.

4. Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini 

A short, powerful, illustrated book written by Khaled Hosseini in response to the haunting image of young Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed upon the beach in Turkey in September 2015. Written in the form of a letter from a father to his son who are fleeing the conflict in Syria, the father reflects on the dangerous sea-crossing that lies before them. Hosseini pays tribute to the millions of families, like Alan’s, who have been splintered and forced from home by war and persecution.

5. The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya 

Clemantine Wamariya was six years old when the civil war in Rwanda forced her and her sister Claire to flee their home. Over the span of six years and eight countries, the two sisters sought refuge where they could find it, before they were granted refugee status in the US. An honest and searing account of displacement that doesn’t shy way from the human potential for violence, the shortcomings of humanitarian aid, and the reality of living with trauma.

6. Against The Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa 

A sweeping and lyrical novel that follows a young Palestinian refugee as she slowly becomes radicalized while searching for a better life for her family throughout the Middle East. As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison in a country she barely knows. The world outside calls her a terrorist, and a whore; some might call her a revolutionary, or a hero. But the truth is, Nahr has always been many things, and had many names.

7. Sisters’ Entrance by Emtithal Mahmoud

In 2003, Emtithal Mahmoud was just 10 years old when she witnessed genocide in her native Darfur, Sudan. The horrendous destruction of her people inspired Mahmoud to write her first poem – she went on to become the 2015 World Poetry Slam Champion and 2016 Woman of the World Co-Champion. She published her powerful and moving debut poetry collection Sisters’ Entrance in 2018, recounting her recovery and grieving the events that shaped her life.

8. Those We Throw Away Are Diamonds by Mondiant Dogon

Dogon is a Congolese author, human rights activist and refugee ambassador. Born a Bagogwe Tutsi in the early 1990s, he was just a toddler when the genocide against Tutsis in neighbouring Rwanda spilled over into Congo, and he and his family were forced to flee. This memoir, which recounts their journey over decades spent surviving refugee camps, is a rare first-hand experience. Dogan, who later went to university – studying as an undergrad in Rwanda followed by a master’s at New York University – was shortlisted for the Moore Prize for Human Rights Writing in 2022.

9. We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib

Samra Habib is a Pakistani-Canadian photographer, writer and activist. They are known for their work including the photo documentary project, Just Me And Allah – an acclaimed examination of what it means to be queer and Muslim, as well as the bestselling memoir We Have Always Been Here. Exploring Habib’s journey from Pakistan, entering Canada as a child refugee to escaping an arranged marriage at 16, it is a statement of queer empowerment and a powerful message for the Muslim LGBTQIA+ community.

10. The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Viet Thanh Nguyen’s multi-awarding winning novel The Sympathizer examines the legacy of the Vietnam War through the eyes of a double agent spying on a group of soldiers while in Los Angeles. In 1975, when Nguyen was four, the North Vietnamese conquered South Vietnam and he and his family left for America. They spent the first few years living in a Vietnamese refugee camp in Pennsylvania, before his parents moved them to California to open a grocery store. Nguyen won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for The Sympathizer, and now teaches English and American Studies at the University of Southern California.

11. No Friend But The Mountains by Behrouz Boochani

In 2013, Kurdish-Iranian journalist, writer and associate professor Behrouz Boochani fled Iran after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard raided Werya, a Kurdish Language political magazine he had co-founded in Ilam. Seeking asylum in Australia, he was imprisoned, spending six years in a detention facility on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. No Friend But The Mountains was written partially on a hidden mobile phone he kept while incarcerated. It won the 2019 Victorian Prize for Literature.

For more information on the work UNHCR does around the world, please visit unhcr.org