Småland’s literature festival SmåLit selects Uppsala author Negar Naseh to be 2023’s recipient of the Migrant Award. The award is given out yearly to a current authorship that, in the spirit of Vilhelm Moberg, creates understanding for the fates contained in all who are displaced. 

In their motivation the jury writes that “In ‘A Handful of Wind’ Negar Naseh gives an intimate and personal perspective on the violent revolution in Iran in 1978. In the spirit of Vilhelm Moberg she portrays people’s vulnerability and solidarity during migration, and offers images of the geopolitics back then, the background to a new uprising and connections to new generations in Sweden.” 

Negar Naseh’s parents were involved in politics and came to Sweden in 1976.

– It’s my book about Iran, even though I have never been there. I hope it will become a free country so I can go there, says the author in a press release. 

A Handful of Wind was published by Natur & Kultur 2022.