Shahrazad - Stories for life

Musa Mutaev, former ICORN Guest Writer in Trondheim from 2004-2007, has published a Norwegian version of his novel, called in English Medal of Honour.  The book is available from Communicatio and was translated from the Russian by Alf B. Glad. The novel has already received critical acclaim in the Norwegian media.

 Medal of Honour recounts the horror of Russia's attempt to ethnically cleanse Chechnya during World War II. Josef Stalin, afraid that they might collaborate with Germany, deported thousands of Chechens in 1944 to the steppes of Kazakhstan. The first villagers were able to return only in 1957 after over a decade of hardships and tragedy. Medal of Honour follows one village's journey, from deportation to an eventual return to their homeland.

Easterine Kire Iralu, ICORN's Guest Writer in Tromsø from 2005-2007, has been very prolific during her time in Norway, publishing several volumes of poetry and handful of novels. Easterine's latest English language book, Bitter Wormwood, published by Zubaan Books, reveals the struggles for independence that her homeland, that of the Naga people, has experienced over the last 70 years. Iralu unfolds the history through events in one man's life. 

Chenjerai Hove is a Zimbabwean author, poet, essayist, playwright, and human rights activist. He was Stavanger City of Refuge's Guest Writer from 2005-2007 and Miami's from 2010-2011. In his homeland, Hove was editor of the Zimbabwe Publishing House as well as President of Zimbabwe PEN from 1990-2007. He was also a founding member of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association and on its board of directors. A vocal critic of the regime of Robert Mugabe, Hove was forced to flee Zimbabwe in 2001 and has lived in exile ever since. He is the author of several noteworthy and prize-winning works of fiction, poetry, and essays including the novels Shadows and Bones, which won the Zimbabwe Literary Award and the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa. In January 2010, Hove was invited by the Center for Literature and Theater at Miami Dade College to participate in the Miami: City of Refuge writer-in-residence project, part of an international network offering displaced writers a place to live and work in freedom. Homeless Sweet Home: A Memoir of Miami (B&B Press) is a compilation of Hove's essays, poems, and plays written over the course of his nearly two years living and writing in Miami. The book includes pieces reflecting on life and culture in both Miami and Zimbabwe.

Safaa Alwan came to Skien as a Guest Writer from Iraq in 2009. Monday 31 October he opened an exhibition of his photographs of Iraq and his Norwegian host city in the Cultural Library in Sølvberget, Stavanger's Cultural Centre. The exhibition is located on the second floor. The pictures will be on display through 30 November.

Asieh Amini is an Iranian poet, journalist, and activist who arrived in Trondheim as the city's writer in residence in 2009.  Communicatio has published
her latest poetry collection, Do Not Come to My Dreams with Guns.

Former guest Writer in Molde City of Refuge, Gilles Dossou-Gouin, has released a new collection of poems.