#novelaboutwomen – Suzanne Strong

Hey guys,

In light of recent events in Syria, I must mention that it is an attrocity that the area where I based this novel is now being attacked by Turkey. Below, is my blog about where my novel came from. But I must say I am extremely concerned and incensed that the Kurdish people in this area who fought Daesh are now being abandoned and have to try to survive another attack. The battle my novel is about was the battle for Kobane which is on the border with Turkey.

About the Battle for Kobane

Within the first month of when Daesh surrounded the town the world watched on, but no one helped the Kurds – thousands of people left. I remember watching it on the news. There were approximately a thousand civilians who stayed, and they only had rudimentary weapons in which to fight Daesh who had tanks and heavy military gear. This is why there were Kurdish protests all around the world for someone to step in. In the end Barrack Obama did act and the US air strikes did help the Kurds after one month of fighting on their own. They held Daesh off by giving their lives in street to street battles. There were a large amount of women soldiers who enlisted for this battle. This is what compelled and inspired me to write this novel.

This is the real detail of this book, based on real facts of the courageous fight made by a combination of Kurdish forces, including many women. These people were not soldiers to begin with.

I hope you enjoy my character’s stories, Karin and Roza who feel compelled to join the battle to defend their families and their land.

This battle was the first successful battle against Daesh and led to its demise in Syria. My book Where the Sun Rises is available on Amazon, in e-book or print format.

“Where the Sun Rises is an ambitious, compassionate and powerful novel. Sensory memories accessed through scents and tastes are used brilliantly to evoke the physical strain, tenderness and revulsion of war for female soldiers in the fight against ISIS. Their story deserves a far wider readership and Strong’s achievement lies in her ability to take us into their dangerous world.”…
Dr Toby Davidson, Senior Lecturer, Macquarie University, Sydney.

“Powerful and credible. An eye-opener to a story we rarely hear.”

Dr Lynne Spender, UTS Lecturer, Sydney.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/27/homepage2/kurdish-female-fighters/index.html

(News Source: CNN Website)

Hey guys, thanks for stopping by. These are examples of the phenomenal women from the YPJ and Kurdish forces I wrote my new novel, Where the Sun Rises, about. None of these women appear in my novel but I wanted to show you the real faces and stories of some of the women.

Their stories inspired and captivated me and I wanted to write from their point of view. Therefore I spent four years and more than 2000 of hours of research to seek to capture this point of view. There has been a lot of journalism done about these women, but no one had written a novel about their phenomenal fight against Daesh so I thought to myself, “what if we could see this war from their eyes?” I also wanted to show the world that bravery was wearing a female uniform and that Daesh were running from these women.

I contacted the Women of Rojava YPJ women on twitter and they wrote this supportive statement of my novel.

“We Kurdish people are proud of people like you, that are supporting us and are in solidarity with us. It means a lot for us. We know that we have solidarity from all around the world and that makes us stronger. We women are fighting here for all the women not only in Rojava- Syria.. Your book is amazing sister. Thank you so much, solidarity greetings from Rojava-Northern-Syria.”

Response from YPJ Media Centre. The woman could not be named for security purposes.

I am thankful to Hassan Somboli as well from the Brisbane Kurdish Association who assisted me with language and culture. I was excited to be able to communicate with the YPJ Media Centre who were very supportive of what I was doing. I also communicated with Claudia Al Minyah and Hanna Bohman, a Canadian woman who joined the YPJ and fought in Syria. Hanna read my book and enjoyed it.

So much work, care and energy has gone into this novel. I am excited to release it to the world in October. 🙂

Click on the below link to pre-order your copy.

Have a beautiful day.

Kind regards, Suz

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Tag: #novelaboutwomen

Syrian Kurdish women my novel is about…

The women I wrote my novel about…

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