“Rain and Embers,” a harrowing, poetic memoir, highlights author Ali Nuri's journey as an Iraqi refugee, from childhood to his present-day.
“Rain and Embers” chronicles Nuri's firsthand account of fleeing with his family, as a persecuted religious sect, at the age of three from Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
The story, told in free verse, illuminates the personal consequences that the forces of discrimination, persecution, and brutality have had in shaping both who Nuri has become and the modern world at large.
“Rain and Embers” explores far-reaching themes of migration, trauma, abuse, racism, religion, philosophy, intimacy, love, loss, forgiveness and redemption.
2019 has been marked by incidents in which scores of innocent people have died in racially motivated attacks, thousands of immigrants are being detained, and migrant children suffer on America's southern border.
Nuri's book provides the perspective of a once stateless refugee, who in escaping a violent regime, feels that telling his story is important — as all stories are a vital defense against injustice in a time of intolerance and confusion.
Whether due to changing climate or war, refugees and their families continue to cross borders into new countries seeking asylum, safety and a better life.
Nuri spent four years in a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia, where food, medicine and other necessities were regularly withheld.
He recalls wearing the same yellow shirt, unable to bathe and walking around barefoot while detained in one of the hottest locations on Earth.
"I needed to share my unique perspective and wound up pouring my heart and soul into this. After years of living as a refugee, growing up in poverty here in the U.S., and then just trying to become successful in my career, I couldn't stay silent any longer with what is going on today," Nuri said. "Art is therapeutic. Writing was a salvation of sorts for me, and I hoped to create a world for someone else to escape into, to relate to and to act as a lifeline for the suffering."Nuri's debut book tackles not only the life of a confined refugee but also the racism and alienation he has faced in America in his search for a place to call home.
He recounts his attempts at moving forward from the tragedies that informed his youth by using the history of the Middle East and ancient mythology to paint a haunting picture of our present-day.
“Rain and Embers” explores what it means to be torn between two conflicting cultures, yet never truly belonging entirely to one or the other.
The state of being a refugee doesn't end in finding a new refuge, and it's this continuous journey, seemingly without end, that Nuri seeks to highlight.
The e-book and paperback are both currently available through online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
