Am I American Yet? with Abdi Nor Iftin
Date(s): Sunday, May 5, 2019, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Location: Changing Hands Phoenix, 300 W Camelback Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85013
Type(s): Reading
Genre and Form(s): Memoir
Cost: Free
About this Event
Join author Abdi Nor Iftin for a community reading and book signing Sunday, May 5, 2019 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Changing Hands Phoenix (300 W Camelback Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85013).
While encouraged, RSVPs are purely for the purposes of monitoring attendance, gauging interest, and communicating information about parking, directions, and other aspects of the event. You do not have to register or RSVP to attend this event. This event is open to the public and free.
This event is presented as part of the Distinguished Visiting Writers Series from the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University in partnership with Snell and Wilmer. To find more author talks and readings, visit our website at http://piper.asu.edu/events/visiting-writers.
About the Book
Abdi Nor Iftin first fell in love with America from afar. As a child, he learned English by listening to American pop and watching action films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. When U.S. marines landed in Mogadishu to take on the warlords, Abdi cheered the arrival of these Americans, who seemed as heroic as those of the movies.
Sporting American clothes and dance moves, he became known around Mogadishu as Abdi American, but when the radical Islamist group al-Shabaab rose to power in 2006, it became dangerous to celebrate Western culture. Desperate to make a living, Abdi used his language skills to post secret dispatches, which found an audience of worldwide listeners. Eventually, though, Abdi was forced to flee to Kenya.
In an amazing stroke of luck, Abdi won entrance to the U.S. in the annual visa lottery, though his route to America did not come easily. Parts of his story were first heard on the BBC World Service and This American Life. Now a proud resident of Maine, on the path to citizenship, Abdi Nor Iftin's dramatic, deeply stirring memoir is truly a story for our time: a vivid reminder of why America still beckons to those looking to make a better life. (Penguin Random House)
