Who Gets Believed (2023), The Ungrateful Refugee, ✏️ for NYT, Guardian, NYer, NYMag, Granta, etc. wandering iranian, scribbler, reader, mom, university lecturer
Trump thinks refugees "should be second class citizens, always quiet, bowing, grateful... When I was a child, people told me all the time, 'You must be so grateful,' or of course, 'Why don't you go back where you came from?'" –
@DinaNayeri
, author of "The Ungrateful Refugee".
Liz can you please, before every interaction and each time you speak publicly, just go ahead and condemn Timothy McVeigh from the Oklahoma City bombing? It was important to me because I lived there at the time, and you're both white Americans so not sure why you can't just do it
Scottish friends, as an American teenager in the evangelical Bible Belt, and an Iranian schoolgirl forced under hijab in the Islamic Republic, may I offer advice? Do not believe fundamentalists who say they won’t impose their beliefs on others. They’re lying.
#amyconeybarrett
@vauhinivara
Hah we’re having tooth fairy tonight too! She lost the tooth just before bed and I literally took the pound coin from her own piggy bank bc we had no other cash around. There’s no winning with this
This was vile.
#GeoffreyOwens
didn't go FROM acting to his side job. Most artists have one. He still acts and he has a Yale degree. Good for him for taking a job where he can chat with people and run lines as he works.
@FoxNews
you, tho, are pure trash
@Baddiel
So smug. As a refugee, let me tell you, lady, that you’re rolling up the ladder behind you like the vile, entitled opportunist that you are. She has nothing to do with immigrants who have suffered. She’s just another entitled native-born with her lips glued to rich white asses
Very nervous about this one. I wrote today’s
@gdnlongread
@guardian
about the cultural gulf b/w me and my mom, a baffling, wonderful person. Thank you
@davidedgarwolf
and who believes in ideas when they’re still shapeless & inexplicable 🙏🏽
An older woman in Iran with no head scarf and showing her legs.
The women of Iran aren’t going back to the way things were prior to September.
But wearing what they want is just one of many things Iranians are demanding.
The Islamic Republic must end.
#MahsaAmini
#ZhinaAmini
@NesrineMalik
Iranian here. Learned English at 10. I used to say “my parents are just trying to make ends meet” but in my head was thinking “make end’s meat” as in the cheaper kind of meat that I thought we had to buy bc we were poor. From the cow’s “ends”….Thank god it sounded identical 🫣
I used to think all citizenship was equal. Imagine how fast she’d be whisked home if she were a blonde N. London girl who’d been trafficked & raped. Also, I don’t see the UK making white rapists and killers stateless as punishment.
Also just on the whole “sex is for marriage thing,” how joyless and dogmatic and unimaginative a belief system is that? “All sex must be co-signed by the government.” Ugh. The best sex is extramarital
Young Baloch girls chanting “Azadi!” (freedom). The Iranian city of Zahedan has sustained 5 months of anti-government protests.
#WomanLifeFreedom
#MahsaAmini
Speaking for my own 40+ coven, our plan is: Write books. Drink wine. Travel. Date everyone. Work on poverty. Work on human rights. Work on migration justice. Win some of those pesky prizes old men have been hoarding bc their dutiful wives have wiped their asses for 40 years.
"A feminist is a person who, instead of being the docile pet of their generation, rears back and bares their teeth. The idea that we no longer need feminism is absurd — it’s the equivalent of technology stopping at the floppy disc."
@ElyKreimendahl
Oh but isn’t it glorious to be feral and alone? I used to sit on the floor of my nyc studio in my underwear at 2am wolfing down a diner burger and watching Netflix, not even wiping that dollop of ketchup off my belly. Hands down, my most attractive
I did 1st-3rd grade in Iran. forced hijab, lines of girls chanting. Ppl ask why I’m fixated on school in IRI. An editor once said “you wrote that already” She meant iran stories for the west. Appalling. YOU try this for 3 formative years & see how long u think about it.
#FreeIran
The dictator of Iran, Khamenei, is seen brainwashing young girls. It reminds me of my childhood.
This regime took us, women of Iran, hostage from the age of seven and wrote its own ideology on our bodies.
The free world must take a strong action against this child abuse.
@LibyaLiberty
Exactly! Women who choose hijab should be 100% for this. Because it's not about hijab. It's about taking the choice out of the hands of men (or anyone really)
Iranian journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi have been held in solitary confinement for over 30 days for reporting on Mahsa Zhina Amini’s death and funeral.
Today, the Islamic Republic falsely said they are foreign agents in order to justify punishing them harshly.
@raventbrunner
Also the part where she accused him of dodging when he was trying to describe complex human things. Poor guy (bless him for thinking the Lacheys would engage with “it’s ineffable”)
Our mutual agent hasn't stopped emailing me about
@BlairBraverman
for two weeks. I'm pretty sure she walked around NYC with the live feed always running. And now she's made me into a crazed fan too. Incredible job, Blair!
It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. And also the most beautiful. The dogs and I took care of each other the whole way. Stories to come, but for now we plan to nap (and eat) for days. All dogs and humans are doing great. xoxo
@chung_catherine
@rokwon
Oh oh ladies i got another one: once a guy asked to see "the egg." As in, women expel an egg with each period. He thought it would literally be some version of this 🥚
Brilliant review in
@GuardianBooks
(and book of the day!) this morning!
#WhoGetsBelieved
“will cement Nayeri’s position as a master storyteller of the refugee experience.”
Such an intelligent, attentive, and thoughtful read. Thank you
@aamnamohdin
This is appalling. The Swiss ambassador legitimizing the IRI and forced hijab at a time when Iranians are murdered, beaten, begging for help to free themselves.
#WomanLifeFreedom
#FreeIran
Western lawmakers often ask us how they can best support the people of Iran. The Swiss ambassador in full conservative religious covering — amidst cries of
#WomanLifeFreedom
, while brave Iranian women risk everything for freedom — is exactly what you should NOT do.
@chung_catherine
@rokwon
Oh god, once in business school a guy who had degrees from Harvard and the best uni in Italy casually mentioned that fetuses live off their mother's URINE! I died laughing on that cafe floor while he was all "what'd I say?"
Best part of
#TheGreatHack
(aside from the amazing
@carolecadwalla
) is
@profcarroll
's gleeful facial expressions every time shit happens. (Sidenote: why is Brittany Kaiser talking on camera about her various moral contortions in an infinity pool "somewhere in Thailand"? Girl ick)
My fave moment at
@hayfestival
(up there w/ meeting
@Baddiel
who really listened to me about Iran and refugees) was getting to tell a roomful of kind people what refugee charities to support. I had hoped it would make
@hayfestival
highlights but maybe you can get the word out 1/
3am. Awake w/panic again. I left socials in 2019 after
#theungratefulrefugee
bc of my anxiety. Now
#whogetsbelieved
is out in a month & nights are a battle again. Fear of judgment, strangers reading naked thoughts I wrote a safe while ago. Anyone else up w/ nightmares? Tell me
I agree. She was a young girl who made an awful, juvenile mistake that she’ll pay for her entire life. She should be tried here. Other British who have committed crimes don’t have their citizenship stripped away, especially if they’re vulnerable to further abuse
@chung_catherine
@rokwon
Oh. My. Word! 😨😨I always marveled at the whole "finding the clitoris" business with men. I mean it's just right there. There it went... right there... first thing you see
impeachment starting in US and unprecedented Supreme Court ruling against Boris’s insane effort to shut down parliament.... could things be turning around? Is the age of the xenophobic bleached potato men over? Oh please god....
This AP headline and subhead are infuriating… entirely picking up the Islamic Republic’s propaganda and nothing about the fact that these four Kurdish dissidents were denied the most basic human rights and forced to confess on television.
There is NO mention in the article
Elena (my 7 y.o.) has an idea for a restaurant called “Dip it!” It would serve finger foods with ketchup and other dips.
I asked about the slogan, and she said (after a thoughtful pause): “make sure it’s dipped.”
I’m going to quit everything and pursue this bc it’s genius
On my way to two refugee camps in Greece, one very new. First time in one since I was an asylum seeker myself. Nervous. Happy to be in the hands of
@RefugeeSupportE
This is the beautiful US jacket for
#whogetsbelieved
by the supremely talented
@NLCaputo
at
@CatapultStory
coming in March. I’m so proud of this book. Quotes and UK jacket coming soon!
I love this so much. Pure joy from his whole professional community. Imagine all the other talented refugee children turned away by heartless policies, whose dormant talents and gifts we’ll never know
BREAKING: Ke Huy Quan just won an
#Oscar
at the Academy Awards for best supporting actor for his role in 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'
"Mom, I just won an Oscar!!"
For those unaware Ke Huy Quan spent a year with his family in a Hong Kong refugee camp before arriving in
@summerbrennan
I’m sitting on a Paris train right now with my fresh baked morning baguette on my way to the office and have never been happier. Its smell alone is improving my concentration
“An important, courageous, brilliant book.” Thank you
@RobGMacfarlane
for these gorgeous words. And thank you
@HarvillSecker
for a stunning UK jacket for
#Whogetsbelieved
. Spotlights! I love the ways different artists interpreted this book. More words (and German cover) soon
No, I think we should just tax you and your friends. A lot. Until everyone living in America (with or without papers) is rolling in healthcare and you have to gavage your own ducks.
Since his plan includesfree healthcare for Illegal Immigrants I wonder if they will point out that they willing raise middle America’s taxes to pay for those who don’t pay into the system?
I imagine hard working Americans would prefer their taxes to be spent on their families!
Dear friends, an excerpt of
#theungratefulrefugee
is now up at
@GrantaMag
! I'm so honored and hope you will read it, share it, pre-order, and say nice things on goodreads, Amazon, or wherever you like to say nice things.
I’m so honored to tell you that
#theungratefulrefugee
is a finalist for THE KIRKUS PRIZE!!! Thank you so much
@KirkusReviews
! I’m so moved. And such good company!
2019 Finalists: nonfiction | Kirkus Reviews
@arishapiro
I was very nervous for our interview. Your responses were so kind and in step with my energy and personality. Afterward I thought "wow Ari really gets to know each guest with his intellect and humor and heart." Please don't change a syllable for some basement troll
I wrote a response to the UK’s “illegal migration bill” for
@englishpen
#pentransmissions
and
@CounterArts
. All my life people have trampled over simple humanitarian values with the argument that it’s all so much more complicated than that. To them I say:
Last night my 7 y.o. “Mummy, you know that feeling when a boy is too handsome and you don’t want to marry him anymore, you just want to kiss him one time?” So I ask who the boy is and if he’s smart. She says “no stop it! he’s just a dumb dude” 😆
I don't normally retweet stuff like this, but this long thread might be useful for anybody still wondering whether the US alt.right truly are Nazis. Conclusion: totally.
@rebeccamakkai
@viet_t_nguyen
So this isn't western but my Iranian mom went to Thailand for peace corps. She calls me the first night, "Dina everybody calls everybody Kun here! It's a respectful title. I refuse to say it." In Farsi, Kun means ass. The next day she calls "so my new boss is called Kun Porn"
On this date September 3 in 1944, the last transport of Jews left Westerbork transit camp in occupied Netherlands to Nazi Auschwitz concentration camp, incl. Anne Frank & her family. Photograph: Anne Frank in 1940, in public domain.
#NeverForget
@AuschwitzMuseum
@AnneFrankCenter
"In the entire history of Iran, no one has walked into a school and started killing children. But, sure, we're the terrorists." - anonymous older relative
I hate that the idiotic
#shithole
talk has made everyone go back to the "but we get the brightest people, immigrants add so much" argument. That's true, but if they're ordinary folks from the worst places, that's MORE reason to take them in bc we're born luckier and they need us
So there goes Scotland and London as the European financial capital and open border w/ Ireland and a strong pound and reasonably priced house renovations and cheap tomatoes in January and cheap easy trips to Europe. All bc they‘re afraid of a few foreign accents... what a sad day
“everyone was talking about impostor syndrome and “the confidence gap,” but no one was talking about gender bias and systemic racism.” Amazing piece by
@lsjamison
in
@NewYorker
From 2017... the first time I finally let it all out on the expectation for refugees to posture gratitude and on the obligations of those born lucky to those born in ravaged places
No need to pray for her.
Who pays is a joint decision.
Text.
Yeah okay, do brush your teeth.
Don’t rape.
Don’t harass.
Don’t get aggressive if she says no.
That’s it dude.
@rgay
Maybe some are scared. For every email from an editor or hiring committee or kindhearted reader, you have 20 trolls, crazies, stalkers, and creeps. I get so many from Christians who want to convert me back
I'm about to go on
@AmanpourCoPBS
live with
@camanpour
at 6pm BST on
@CNN
1pm EST
@PBS
. Tune in to see me swallow a kilowatt of nervous energy. I mean, remember how every semi ambitious, creative, extroverted young adult of the late 90s wanted to be Amanpour? Yeah me too.
This is the most incredible honor. You have made my dreary day in airports so joyful! Sidenote: all my literary life I knew
@KirkusReviews
to be tough critics. If they love you, it means you’ve done it right. So this... man it feels like an A to my inner nerdling
“Is it memoir? Criticism? Journalism? … it’s a juggernaut of a work that forces readers to rethink on whom we bestow credibility, and why. It’s an important book, and the best thing may be to shelve a copy in every section of the store.” ❤️❤️
@hollavansary
@mamueca
Once an editor struck out my favorite line, I put it back. Next draft, she annotates that line “love this!”
(To be fair to her and make this tweet way less fun, I did cut the line preceding it. So maybe it had just been redundant… meh)
@yashar
She’s vile. and zero self awareness re immigration. She believes she’s earned everything she has on pure merit (which no one on earth has done). She’s dangerous and grossly selfish. And she can’t speak or write for shit
@rokwon
❤️👌🏼you're amazing! this is also encouraging to those of us who married early, learned things about ourselves very late, and have old world parents who don't wanna know any of it. So thanks for being brave
I want one that says:
WE ARE IRANIAN GRANDMAS
WE SMELL LIKE TURMERIC CHICKEN
WE HIDE OUR OPIUM IN THE SPICE JAR
WE CAN HIKE A MOUNTAIN WITH A POT OF BUTTER BASMATI STRAPPED TO OUR BACKS
AND IF YOU DONT LIKE IT, Have another baghlava with that tea azizam, you're skin and bones!
WE ARE LADYBOOK SELLERS
WE TAKE THE TUBE
WE EAT WHATEVER WE WANT
AND WE LIKE TEARING DOWN THE PATRIARCHY
if you don't like it
YOU WOULDN'T BE THE FIRST
Respectfully GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR WAY.
Many thanks to
@lithub
for publishing my thoughts on the language of toddlers and the irreparable damage to those poor kids in border cages. And thanks
@carlawaslike
and
@firetoge
for the encouragement
Dina Nayeri on Family Separation
via
@lithub
Brilliant review in
@GuardianBooks
(and book of the day!) this morning!
#WhoGetsBelieved
“will cement Nayeri’s position as a master storyteller of the refugee experience.”
Such an intelligent, attentive, and thoughtful read. Thank you
@aamnamohdin
Excellent essay by
@fbhutto
. This isn't a triumph like joy luck club with its layered histories and array of origin stories. It's another celebration of the filthy rich, like SATC2
Crazy Rich Asians is no racial triumph. It's a soulless salute to the 1%
New respect for
@jes_chastain
. I’d add that some media are afraid that criticizing a brutal dictatorship will expose them to accusations of Islamophobia (only in bad faith by morons and IRI apologists). Millions of Muslims are hurting and need our help getting a
#FreeIran
Hollywood actress Jessica Chastain (
@jes_chastain
) argues that the reason the US media hasn’t covered the transformative protests in
#Iran
enough is because “it’s a women-led revolution and we’re not ready to see that.”
#MahsaAmini
#زن_زندگی_آزادی