Scattered

A compelling story in which resilience and humanity triumph over tragedy and displacement … In a moment where refugees are often talked about but rarely heard from, her voice breaks through – GARY YOUNGEA brave, powerful, and deeply necessary book. Aamna Mohdin excavates her past with grace, honesty, and unflinching courage - exploring survivor’s guilt, identity, mental health, and the resilience of the Somali diaspora. A vital contribution to the Black British literary canon – AFUA HIRSCHThe startling honesty and intimacy of this depiction of one family’s chaotic quest to find sanctuary feels fresh and important * GUARDIAN *Journalist Aamna Mohdin explores her Somali family’s refugee experience across continents in her wonderful new book Scattered * FINANCIAL TIMES *An absorbingly written account of exile combined with journalistic research and rigour. Aamna is such a thoughtful writer, and her voice, and this testimony, offers an essential bridge between discourse on migration in Britain and the lived experiences of many Britons, which are too often disregarded – SALLY HAYDEN, author of the Orwell Prize-winning My Fourth Time, We DrownedThe only way out of the crisis of exclusion sweeping across the Atlantic Ocean is storytelling that overcomes apathy and scapegoating in favour of empathy and hospitality. In so luminously recounting the story of her family, and the exodus from Somalia to the United Kingdom she and her parents have lived, Aamna Mohdin achieves an imaginative breakthrough that everyone should read – SAMUEL MOYN, Professor of Law and History at Yale UniversityReporting for the Guardian from the Calais refugee camp, Mohdin felt a jolt of recognition: she had once been a child refugee herself. From there she travels to Somalia, the country her parents fled, and back into her own past. * Guardian, The books to look out for in 2024 *Powerful and evocative * Bookseller, Editor’s Choice *Mohdin’s intimate portrayal of her family’s quest for sanctuary feels especially important in this moment … Such stories are vital to foster understanding of the causes of the so-called ‘asylum crisis’, and the impact of violent border policies * NEW INTERNATIONALIST *

Aamna Mohdin is the Guardian’s first community affairs correspondent, reporting on the social, political and economic experiences of the UK’s diverse communities, with a particular focus on Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. Mohdin spent her early years in the Kakuma refugee camp, Saudi Arabia, Germany and the Netherlands, before arriving in the UK aged seven. Mohdin is the winner of the British Journalism Award 2022 and her work has been shortlisted for the British Press Awards. She was previously a reporter at Quartz where she led the publication’s coverage of the European refugee crisis. She lives in London.