Two Blankets, Three Sheets
Samir Karim flees Iraq in order to avoid conscription into Saddam Hussein’s army. After a seven-year detour wandering throughout Asia and Europe, he arrives in the Netherlands in 1998. For nine years he is interned in a centre for asylum seekers, three men to a room. Finally, in 2007, when the Dutch government issues a General Pardon to asylum seekers who arrived in the country before 2001, he is granted a permit to stay.
FictionPrint
Original title
Hoe ik talent voor het leven kreeg
Author
Rodaan Al Galidi
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A tragic story at times, about asylum seekers pining away or committing suicide, but more importantly an energetic, true-to-life tale of survivors, of people who walk to the post box every day to see if there’s a letter from Immigration and Naturalization for them […] Should be essential reading for the Dutch, so that they may familiarize themselves with the new multicultural society.
Trouw
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Book-of-the-month at De Wereld Draait door, TV show with 1,6 million viewers
DWDD
Rodaan Al Galidi
Rodaan Al Galidi is a poet and writer. Born in Iraq, trained as an architectural engineer, he has lived in the Netherlands since 1998. Since as an undocumented asylum seeker he did not have the right to attend language classes, he taught himself to read and write Dutch.