Publishing Zaina's story
Donation protected
OUR CAMPAIGN
Help Zaina share her story and document her home country’s war from her unique perspective by crowdfunding the translation of her manuscript “Evil Wheels of our War” from Arabic into English.
OUR CAMPAIGN TEAM
Zaina Erhaim is an award-winning Syrian journalist who left the BBC in London and went back to her home, after the uprising, to pass on her expertise to citizen journalists. Since 2014, as well as working for the British charity, Institute for War and Peace Reporting , she has been documenting daily life behind the news - mostly in rebel-held areas in northern Syria - and recording her own and other women’s struggles. She turned some of these stories into a series of short films titled Syria´s Rebellious Women . But for years Zaina hid most of the stories because they could have got her, and her loved ones, killed by many parties. Now living in London again, she has turned her secret “not to be published” file into a book-length manuscript in Arabic. If enough people support this crowdfunding campaign, her story can be translated, and the intention is that it will be published by Palewell Press , London’s independent Human Rights publisher, with whom Zaina has signed a publication contract.
Camilla Reeve was born in Battersea and lives in South West London. A poet and novelist herself, she founded Palewell Press in 2016 to publish books on Human Rights and the Environment. Palewell Press is a founding member of the Changing Wor(l)ds network for publishing professionals and cultural activists, supporting and disseminating radically marginalised voices in literature. We believe in building a sustainable world that can support itself and all its peoples, in which they share equally and are protected from abuse and injustice. Since 2016, we have successfully published 21 books and pamphlets, an increasing number of which are being written by or about refugees. We are in touch with several Arabic-English translators and have received preliminary quotes to have Zaina´s book translated.
TRUTH BEHIND THE HEADLINES
In the book, Zaina describes the complexity and the multitude of voices that make up the Syrian war, sharing first-hand testimonies few of which would otherwise be heard abroad. No-one emerges from the conflict as all white and or all black. Instead, Zaina sees evil like an energy that’s constantly changing shape and shifting from one party to another. She also shares intimate details from her own love story and those of other women who made her part of their stories. As her book unfolds you’ll discover why her full name was mentioned by the previous French president, François Hollande, which almost got her, and her family, killed in Syria.
As a journalist, being forced to apply self-censorship to everything was the hardest personal dilemma for Zaina. Breaking that personal vow of silence to write this book has been equally hard. This is a book for those who care about freedom of expression, human right abuses committed by all parties, feminism, the Syrian crisis, love and action. It is Zaina’s personal memoir but also her testimony to the history which is being manipulated even now by the military winners of all parties.
OUR PLAN AND TIMESCALES
Our plan is to raise enough money through this campaign (£20,000) to pay for Zaina's book to be translated from Arabic into English. As Managing Director of Palewell Press, Camilla Reeve will withdraw the money and use it to pay a specialist UK-based translator. With your help - funding the translation and having your name listed in its pages as a generous contributor - this unique book will reach an English-speaking audience. Once Zaina's book has been translated, Palewell Press will publish it and we´ll be able to thank you all you with the rewards below.
After publication we will organise a book tour for Zaina and her translator through five UK cities – to promote the book and ensure as many people as possible learn what has really been happening during the Syrian war. During that tour, we hope to meet each of you at one of the events and thank you personally. As donations start to come in, we will be able to put dates against these actions, but our aim is to see the book published as soon as possible in 2019.
WHY WE CARE
It is ordinary people in Syria – mothers, teachers, children, doctors, grandparents, engineers and farmers – who are the real victims of the violence going on there. Like Zaina, Camilla believes passionately in revealing the truth about what´s happening. The English-speaking world deserves to see a more honest picture and its political parties need better information so they can act with more compassion and wisdom. Help Zaina shine a light on the complex poignant truths behind Syria’s headlines.
Pledge £5 - Receive a digital copy of "Tiger and Clay", poetry and prose talking honestly about living in exile by Rana Abdul Fattah, a Syrian woman writer, and see your name on our website. 2018
Pledge £10 - Receive a digital copy of "Three Days in Damascus", a moving memoir by refugee activist, Kim Schultz, of her love affair with a refugee artist; and see your name on our website. 2018
Pledge £15 - Receive a digital 1st edition of Zaina Erhaim's translated book - "Evil Wheels of our War" - with your name inside as a supporter. 2019
Pledge £30 - Receive a printed 1st edition of Zaina Erhaim's translated book - "Evil Wheels of our War" - with your name inside as a supporter and the Palewell Press Digital "Human Rights Bundle" (eBooks of "Tiger and Clay" and "Three Days in Damascus" and "In Sadness and Solidarity") 2019
Pledge £40 - Share your reward with a friend. Receive a printed copy of Zaina's book for yourself, with your name inside as a supporter, and nominate a friend to receive the printed book as a surprise gift! 2019
Pledge £50 - Receive a printed copy of "Evil Wheels of our War", with your name inside as a supporter, and the Palewell Press Printed "Human Rights Bundle" (paperbacks of "Tiger and Clay" and "Three Days in Damascus" and the "In Sadness and Solidarity" pamphlet). 2019
Pledge £75 - Receive a printed copy of "Evil Wheels of our War", with your name inside as a supporter, the Palewell Press Digital "Human Rights Bundle" (eBooks of "Tiger and Clay" and "Three Days in Damascus" and "In Sadness and Solidarity") and a limited edition poster based on the book's front cover. 2019
Pledge £150 - Receive a printed copy of "Evil Wheels of our War", with your name inside as a supporter, a limited edition poster based on the book's front cover, and a Palewell Press 2019 subscription entitling you to 5 other Palewell Press books published that year. 2019
Help Zaina share her story and document her home country’s war from her unique perspective by crowdfunding the translation of her manuscript “Evil Wheels of our War” from Arabic into English.
OUR CAMPAIGN TEAM
Zaina Erhaim is an award-winning Syrian journalist who left the BBC in London and went back to her home, after the uprising, to pass on her expertise to citizen journalists. Since 2014, as well as working for the British charity, Institute for War and Peace Reporting , she has been documenting daily life behind the news - mostly in rebel-held areas in northern Syria - and recording her own and other women’s struggles. She turned some of these stories into a series of short films titled Syria´s Rebellious Women . But for years Zaina hid most of the stories because they could have got her, and her loved ones, killed by many parties. Now living in London again, she has turned her secret “not to be published” file into a book-length manuscript in Arabic. If enough people support this crowdfunding campaign, her story can be translated, and the intention is that it will be published by Palewell Press , London’s independent Human Rights publisher, with whom Zaina has signed a publication contract.
Camilla Reeve was born in Battersea and lives in South West London. A poet and novelist herself, she founded Palewell Press in 2016 to publish books on Human Rights and the Environment. Palewell Press is a founding member of the Changing Wor(l)ds network for publishing professionals and cultural activists, supporting and disseminating radically marginalised voices in literature. We believe in building a sustainable world that can support itself and all its peoples, in which they share equally and are protected from abuse and injustice. Since 2016, we have successfully published 21 books and pamphlets, an increasing number of which are being written by or about refugees. We are in touch with several Arabic-English translators and have received preliminary quotes to have Zaina´s book translated.
TRUTH BEHIND THE HEADLINES
In the book, Zaina describes the complexity and the multitude of voices that make up the Syrian war, sharing first-hand testimonies few of which would otherwise be heard abroad. No-one emerges from the conflict as all white and or all black. Instead, Zaina sees evil like an energy that’s constantly changing shape and shifting from one party to another. She also shares intimate details from her own love story and those of other women who made her part of their stories. As her book unfolds you’ll discover why her full name was mentioned by the previous French president, François Hollande, which almost got her, and her family, killed in Syria.
As a journalist, being forced to apply self-censorship to everything was the hardest personal dilemma for Zaina. Breaking that personal vow of silence to write this book has been equally hard. This is a book for those who care about freedom of expression, human right abuses committed by all parties, feminism, the Syrian crisis, love and action. It is Zaina’s personal memoir but also her testimony to the history which is being manipulated even now by the military winners of all parties.
OUR PLAN AND TIMESCALES
Our plan is to raise enough money through this campaign (£20,000) to pay for Zaina's book to be translated from Arabic into English. As Managing Director of Palewell Press, Camilla Reeve will withdraw the money and use it to pay a specialist UK-based translator. With your help - funding the translation and having your name listed in its pages as a generous contributor - this unique book will reach an English-speaking audience. Once Zaina's book has been translated, Palewell Press will publish it and we´ll be able to thank you all you with the rewards below.
After publication we will organise a book tour for Zaina and her translator through five UK cities – to promote the book and ensure as many people as possible learn what has really been happening during the Syrian war. During that tour, we hope to meet each of you at one of the events and thank you personally. As donations start to come in, we will be able to put dates against these actions, but our aim is to see the book published as soon as possible in 2019.
WHY WE CARE
It is ordinary people in Syria – mothers, teachers, children, doctors, grandparents, engineers and farmers – who are the real victims of the violence going on there. Like Zaina, Camilla believes passionately in revealing the truth about what´s happening. The English-speaking world deserves to see a more honest picture and its political parties need better information so they can act with more compassion and wisdom. Help Zaina shine a light on the complex poignant truths behind Syria’s headlines.
Pledge £5 - Receive a digital copy of "Tiger and Clay", poetry and prose talking honestly about living in exile by Rana Abdul Fattah, a Syrian woman writer, and see your name on our website. 2018
Pledge £10 - Receive a digital copy of "Three Days in Damascus", a moving memoir by refugee activist, Kim Schultz, of her love affair with a refugee artist; and see your name on our website. 2018
Pledge £15 - Receive a digital 1st edition of Zaina Erhaim's translated book - "Evil Wheels of our War" - with your name inside as a supporter. 2019
Pledge £30 - Receive a printed 1st edition of Zaina Erhaim's translated book - "Evil Wheels of our War" - with your name inside as a supporter and the Palewell Press Digital "Human Rights Bundle" (eBooks of "Tiger and Clay" and "Three Days in Damascus" and "In Sadness and Solidarity") 2019
Pledge £40 - Share your reward with a friend. Receive a printed copy of Zaina's book for yourself, with your name inside as a supporter, and nominate a friend to receive the printed book as a surprise gift! 2019
Pledge £50 - Receive a printed copy of "Evil Wheels of our War", with your name inside as a supporter, and the Palewell Press Printed "Human Rights Bundle" (paperbacks of "Tiger and Clay" and "Three Days in Damascus" and the "In Sadness and Solidarity" pamphlet). 2019
Pledge £75 - Receive a printed copy of "Evil Wheels of our War", with your name inside as a supporter, the Palewell Press Digital "Human Rights Bundle" (eBooks of "Tiger and Clay" and "Three Days in Damascus" and "In Sadness and Solidarity") and a limited edition poster based on the book's front cover. 2019
Pledge £150 - Receive a printed copy of "Evil Wheels of our War", with your name inside as a supporter, a limited edition poster based on the book's front cover, and a Palewell Press 2019 subscription entitling you to 5 other Palewell Press books published that year. 2019
Fundraising team: Zaina at Palewell Press (2)
Camilla Reeve
Organizer
Zaina Erhaim
Team member