No Friend But the Mountains: Behrouz Boochani's Powerful Memoir from Manus Prison - Inspiring True Story of Survival & Human Rights | Perfect for Book Clubs & Social Justice Discussions

Winner of Australia's richest literary award, No Friend but the Mountains is Kurdish-Iranian journalist and refugee Behrouz Boochani's account of his detainment on Australia's notorious Manus Island prison. Composed entirely by text message, this work represents the harrowing experience of stateless and imprisoned refugees and migrants around the world.

In 2013, Kurdish-Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani was illegally detained on Manus Island, a refugee detention centre off the coast of Australia. He has been there ever since. This book is the result. Laboriously tapped out on a mobile phone and translated from the Farsi.

It is a voice of witness, an act of survival. A lyric first-hand account. A cry of resistance. A vivid portrait of five years of incarceration and exile. Winner of the Victorian Prize for Literature, No Friend but the Mountains is an extraordinary account -- one that is disturbingly representative of the experience of the many stateless and imprisoned refugees and migrants around the world.

"Our government jailed his body, but his soul remained that of a free man." -- From the Foreword by Man Booker Prize-winning author Richard Flanagan

BEHROUZ BOOCHANI is a Kurdish-Iranian writer, journalist, and adjunct associate professor at the University of NSW. He publishes regularly with The Guardian, and his book, No Friend but the Mountains, won the 2019 Victorian Prize for Literature. It has been published in 23 countries and is currently being adapted for both stage and screen. A political prisoner incarcerated by the Australian government in Papua New Guinea before he escaped in 2019, Boochani now resides in Wellington, New Zealand.

2019

Paperback