# Yesterday, Tomorrow (2000) by Nuruddin Farah: voices from the Somali diaspora

> Nuruddin Farah's Yesterday, Tomorrow (2000): his interviews with Somali refugees in Africa and Europe, the questions it asks about exile and identity, and how it was read.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/books/yesterday-tomorrow-farah/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## The book

**Yesterday, Tomorrow: Voices from the Somali Diaspora** is a book of non-fiction by **[Nuruddin Farah](/en/people/nuruddin-farah/)**, the Somali novelist born in Baidoa in 1945 and winner of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1998. It was published by Cassell in [London](/en/diaspora/london/) in February 2000, with about 200 pages, and was his first non-fiction book ([Schweitzer Fachinformationen](https://www.schweitzer-online.de/en/buch/Farah/Yesterday-Tomorrow/9780304707027/A28040245/); [Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/825071)). It has been published in French as *Hier, demain* and in German by Suhrkamp ([Critiques Libres](https://www.critiqueslibres.com/i.php/vcrit/31041/?alt=print); [Suhrkamp extract](https://res.cloudinary.com/suhrkamp/images/v1742117943/144084/yesterday-tomorrow_9783518123201_leseprobe.pdf)).

## What it contains

The book is built from interviews Farah carried out between 1991 and 1998 with Somalis who had fled the collapse of the state, in Africa and in Europe, including communities in Italy, Britain, Sweden and Switzerland ([Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/825071)). The publisher describes it as a study of refugees created by political repression in post-colonial Somalia, which explores:

- how refugees see themselves;
- how host countries perceive and treat them;
- how they adapt, or fail to adapt, as politics and economics break apart and rebuild their lives ([Schweitzer Fachinformationen](https://www.schweitzer-online.de/en/buch/Farah/Yesterday-Tomorrow/9780304707027/A28040245/)).

Although it is about one people, the publisher presents it as speaking to mass migration more widely. Farah had himself lived in exile from 1976 until 1996, when he was first able to visit Somalia again ([Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/farah-nuruddin)). The movement of Somalis abroad is covered on [Somalis leave, 1988 to 1991](/en/diaspora/somalis-leave-1988-1991/) and [Somali refugees by the numbers](/en/diaspora/somali-refugees-by-the-numbers/).

## How it has been read

- The book was reviewed in the French journal Études littéraires africaines in 2000 ([Érudit](https://erudit.org/fr/revue/ela/2000/v/n10/1041946ar.pdf)).
- The Providence [Phoenix](/en/diaspora/phoenix/) described its narratives as "wrenching" ([Providence Phoenix](https://providencephoenix.com/archive/books/00/03/23/FARAH.html)).
- One literary study reads it as a turning point in Farah's work, from nostalgia for Somalia towards openly expressed concern for Somali refugees ([Tydskrif vir Letterkunde](https://letterkunde.africa/article/view/8077/9964)).

## Where to read it

- In a library: [WorldCat](https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=Yesterday+Tomorrow+Voices+from+the+Somali+Diaspora)

## Related pages

- [Links (2003), Nuruddin Farah](/en/books/links-farah/)
- [Little Mother (Madre piccola), Ubah Cristina Ali Farah](/en/books/madre-piccola-ali-farah/)
- [Somali authors and their books](/en/society/somali-authors-and-their-books/)

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