Abu Bakr Al-Rabeeah is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

writer, whose memoir ''Homes: A Refugee Story'', cowritten with Winnie Yeung, was published in 2018. Originally from

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, Al-Rabeeah moved with his family to

Homs Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

in 2010 to escape persecution due to their status as minority

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...

s, but were soon forced to move again due to the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War."Edmonton teacher helps refugee tell his story"

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

Edmonton, June 23, 2016. He and his family have lived in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

since 2014,"The Syrian boy who wrote his life story – with the help of his Canadian teacher"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', May 12, 2018. and Yeung was his

English as a second language English as a second or foreign language refers to the use of English by individuals whose native language is different, commonly among students learning to speak and write English. Variably known as English as a foreign language (EFL), Engli ...

teacher at the time he began to consider writing the book. The book was self-published in 2016, before being picked up for commercial republication by

Freehand Books Freehand Books is a Canadian literary imprint started in 2007 by Broadview Press, a Canadian academic publisher. Freehand publishes literary fiction, literary non-fiction, memoir and poetry. In its first season in 2008, Freehand published ''Good To ...

in 2018. It was a shortlisted finalist for the

Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction The Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a non-fiction book written in English. Since 1987 it is one of fourteen Governor General's Awards for Litera ...

at the

2018 Governor General's Awards The shortlisted nominees for the 2018 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were announced on October 3, 2018,Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing is a Canadian literary award, presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada to the best nonfiction book on Canadian political and social issues. It has been presented annually in Ottawa at the Writers� ...

. It was selected for the 2019 edition of ''

Canada Reads ''Canada Reads'' is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC. The program has aired in two distinct editions, the English-language ''Canada Reads'' on CBC Radio One, and the Fre ...

'', where it was defended by

Chuck Comeau Charles-André "Chuck" Comeau (born 17 September 1979) is a Canadian musician and drummer, best known for being the drummer of the rock band Simple Plan. He also founded the apparel company Role Model Clothing along with his bandmate Pierre Bouvi ...

."Chuck Comeau, Joe Zee, Lisa Ray take on Canada Reads battle of the books"

CityNews City''News'' is the title of news and current affairs programming on Rogers Sports & Media's Citytv network in Canada. The newscast division was founded on September 28, 1975 as City''Pulse'' as a standalone local newscast on the network's CITY- ...

, January 31, 2019.

References

21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian Sunni Muslims Iraqi emigrants to Canada Writers from Edmonton Living people Muslim writers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Canadian memoirists {{Canada-writer-stub