# Desert Flower (1998) by Waris Dirie: from nomad girl to model and campaigner

> Waris Dirie's Desert Flower (1998): her nomad childhood, escape, modelling career and campaign against FGM; its publication, translations and the 2009 film.

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Last checked: 2026-11-12
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## The book

**Desert Flower: The Extraordinary Journey of a Desert Nomad** is the memoir of [Waris Dirie](/en/people/waris-dirie/), written with the American writer Cathleen Miller. It was first published in hardcover by William Morrow in New York in 1998, with 224 pages ([Publishers Weekly](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780688158231)).

## What it covers

The book tells Dirie's life in her own voice:

- **Childhood.** She was born in 1965 in the [Gaalkacyo](/en/regions/mudug/) area, one of twelve children in a nomad family ([Waris Dirie, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waris_Dirie)), and grew up in the desert "without shoes", as Publishers Weekly summed up the book ([Publishers Weekly](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780688158231)).
- **Cutting.** She describes undergoing female genital cutting as a young girl, an experience that became the centre of her later work. The practice in Somalia is covered on [Female genital cutting](/en/society/female-genital-cutting/).
- **Escape.** At about 13 she ran away across the desert to Mogadishu to avoid an arranged marriage to a man of about 60 ([Waris Dirie, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waris_Dirie)).
- **[London](/en/diaspora/london/).** Her uncle, Somalia's ambassador to the UK, took her to London as a maid ([Waris Dirie, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waris_Dirie)); the book describes her struggle to start a modelling career while avoiding the immigration authorities ([Publishers Weekly](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780688158231)).
- **Modelling and campaigning.** The photographer Mike Goss discovered her at 18; she became an international fashion model, and in 1997 spoke publicly about her own cutting in Marie Claire and became a UN special ambassador against the practice, a role she held until 2003 ([Waris Dirie, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waris_Dirie)).

## How it was received

Before publication, foreign rights had been sold in 10 countries, according to Publishers Weekly's review ([Publishers Weekly](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780688158231)). It was later translated into many more languages; publisher and bookseller listings give figures between 11 and 14 languages for the early editions ([LibraryThing](https://www.librarything.com/work/565396); [Abbey's Bookshop](https://www.abbeys.com.au/book/desert-flower-the-extraordinary-life-of-a-desert-nomad.do)). Wikipedia states that it has sold over 11 million copies worldwide, including 3 million in Germany ([Waris Dirie, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waris_Dirie)).

It was followed by further books, including Desert Dawn (2002), Desert Children (2005) and Letter to My Mother (2007); Desert Children was written with Corinna Milborn on cutting in Europe ([Waris Dirie, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waris_Dirie); [Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/waris-dirie/desert-children/)).

## The film

**Desert Flower**, a German film directed by Sherry Hormann with Liya Kebede as Waris Dirie, premiered at the Venice Film Festival on 5 September 2009 ([Desert Flower (film), Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Flower_(film))).

## Where to read it

- In a library: [Open Library](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL9845705M); [WorldCat](https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=Desert+Flower+Waris+Dirie)

## Related pages

- [Waris Dirie](/en/people/waris-dirie/)
- [Somali authors and their books](/en/society/somali-authors-and-their-books/)

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