On sale – 09 October 2024
Afsana Press has signed the literary political thriller The Good, the Bad and the Gringo by British-Kurdish writer and award-winning filmmaker Kae Bahar. Co-publishers Aleksandra Markovic and Goran Baba Ali acquired world rights directly from the author, and plan to publish the novel in October 2024 in paperback.
The Good, the Bad and the Gringo is a new, slightly revised version of Kae Bahar’s debut novel Letters from a Kurd, which was first published by Yolk Publishing in 2014.
Author James Attlee said that Kae Bahar's protagonist, Merywan, “is one of the most remarkable in contemporary fiction”.
“Persecuted and abused as a 'boygirl' in Kurdistan, his personal trials are soon subsumed in a titanic war for independence, the only light in the darkness his correspondence with his hero Clint Eastwood, who he dreams of joining in America. In equal parts a hymn to personal resilience, a call for justice for the Kurdish people and a celebration of the magical, border-defying powers of cinema, The Good, the Bad and the Gringo is unmissables,’ Attlee added.
Kae Bahar said, “I was born into a typically large Kurdish family with illiterate parents and no books around to read during my childhood. However, my parents sent me to bed, telling me fantastical and mythical stories and seeded the love of storytelling within me. Ever since I left my beloved Kurdistan and arrived in Europe in 1980, at the age of nineteen, I always wanted to write a novel alongside my acting and filmmaking. This was motivated by the fact that I could not find one novel written by a Kurd in the bookshops or libraries in Europe.”
About the author
Kae Bahar is a writer and filmmaker. He grew up in Kurdistan under the regime of Saddam Hussein and was arrested and tortured by the secret police at the age of fourteen. With his family's help, he managed to escape to Italy to avoid a second arrest and possible death. Once in Europe, he worked as an actor and produced films for major broadcasters. What kept Kae's hope alive was storytelling and watching films. Most of his films have won multiple awards. The Good, the Bad, and the Gringo is his first novel.
For more information, you can visit: www.jokafilms.com
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