New Swedish Books, Autumn 2018 1
41 Autumn 2018 I’m Staying to the End In 2015, a
large wave of refugees saw over 35,000 unaccompanied children apply for asylum in Sweden. That same year, Fatemeh Khavari and some of her family came to Sweden on a bright June evening. She belongs to the ethnic group Hazaras, one of the most persecuted populations in Afghanistan, and has spent her entire life on the move. Two years later, Fatemeh Khavari founded Young in Sweden to protest against the treatment and expulsion of unaccompanied Afghan children and adolescents. She organised a sit-in in central Stockholm that lasted for 58 days. Even before she had mastered the language, she was making Sweden listen. I’m Staying to the End is written with the help of journalist Annie Hellquist. The text weaves flashbacks from Khavari’s life on the run with a powerful, moving and hopeful account of the months during which a young girl from a patriarchal culture became the leader of major political action in her new country. Fatemeh Khavari (b.2000) I’m Staying to the End Publisher Norstedts www.norstedts.se Rights Norstedts agency Linda Altrov Berg linda.altrovberg@norstedts.se In 2018 Fatemeh Khavari received the Swedish Martin Luther King Award for her non-violent campaigns. I'm Staying to the End is her first book. Photo: Göran Segeholm