Kurdistan ~ The Man in Blue Pyjamas

"I read 197 books — one from each UN recognized nation plus Taiwan and plus one extra territory voted for by blog readers.  They chose The Man in Blue Pyjamas by Jalal Barzanji from Kurdistan."  This is from an interview with Ann Morgan, who spent a year reading a book from every nation in the world.

The Man in Blue Pyjamas: A Prison Memoir ~ by Jalal Barzanji, 2011, memoir (Kurdistan)

From 1986–1989 poet and journalist Jalal Barzanji endured imprisonment and torture under Saddam Hussein’s regime because of his literary and journalistic achievements — writing that openly explores themes of peace, democracy, and freedom. It was not until 1998, when he and his family took refuge in Canada, that he was able to consider speaking out fully on these topics. This literary memoir is the project Barzanji worked on while in exile, and it is the first translation of his work from Kurdish into English.

Read Ann Morgan's own story on her blog, A Year of Reading the World.  She set up the blog in January 2012 and began reading English translations of fiction and occasionally memoirs from countries around the world.