Book
Desert Flower (1998) by Waris Dirie: from nomad girl to model and campaigner
Desert Flower is the 1998 memoir of the Somali model and campaigner Waris Dirie, written with Cathleen Miller and published by William Morrow. It tells of her childhood in a nomad family, her escape from an arranged marriage, her years in London, her modelling career and her decision to speak publicly about female genital cutting. A film of the same name followed in 2009.
Desert Flower
- Author
- Waris Dirie and Cathleen Miller
- Year
- 1998
- Publisher
- William Morrow
- Language
- English
- Sources
- 8 sources
The book
Desert Flower: The Extraordinary Journey of a Desert Nomad is the memoir of 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).
What it covers
The book tells Dirie's life in her own voice:
- Childhood. She was born in 1965 in the Gaalkacyo area, one of twelve children in a nomad family (Waris Dirie, Wikipedia), and grew up in the desert "without shoes", as Publishers Weekly summed up the book (Publishers Weekly).
- 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.
- 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).
- London. Her uncle, Somalia's ambassador to the UK, took her to London as a maid (Waris Dirie, Wikipedia); the book describes her struggle to start a modelling career while avoiding the immigration authorities (Publishers Weekly).
- 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).
How it was received
Before publication, foreign rights had been sold in 10 countries, according to Publishers Weekly's review (Publishers Weekly). It was later translated into many more languages; publisher and bookseller listings give figures between 11 and 14 languages for the early editions (LibraryThing; Abbey's Bookshop). Wikipedia states that it has sold over 11 million copies worldwide, including 3 million in Germany (Waris Dirie, Wikipedia).
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; Kirkus Reviews).
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).
Where to read it
- In a library: Open Library; WorldCat
Related pages
Sources
- Publishers Weekly · publishersweekly.com
- Waris Dirie, Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- LibraryThing · librarything.com
- Abbey's Bookshop · abbeys.com.au
- Kirkus Reviews · kirkusreviews.com
- Desert Flower (film), Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Open Library · openlibrary.org
- WorldCat · search.worldcat.org
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