This book answers that question. Boochani is a man of delicate sensibility and fine, sometimes severe, moral judgment but also, in his willingness to lay bare his soul before us, of mighty courage. Maysam the Whore] employs a beautiful form of rebellion that has enormous appeal for the prisoners. … He stands in direct opposition to a system that wants to fatten up lambs for slaughter. With just one word spoken by him, we experience the essence of life. I don’t want to talk about literature , just I would like to say that I think the literature community as a part of civil society of Australia are part of our resistance in front of this system and I think it is very valuable, and I do appreciate everyone for recognising my work. The narrative begins with Boochani leaving Indonesia on a decrepit boat, a voyage that culminates in his arrival on Australian territory (specifically, Christmas Island). There, as the asylum seekers learn of their imminent transfer to Manus Island, they’re told to change into new clothing provided by the guards. On 2 May 2019, it was announced that the work had won the Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) for General non-fiction book of the year. [18] On 12 August 2019, the book won the Australian National Biography Award. [19] In May 2020 it won ABIA Audiobook of the year. [20] Publication in Iran [ edit ]

selected work prose Abstract 'Behrouz Boochani’s memoir of his arrival at Christmas Island as an asylum seeker, and his subsequent indefinite incarceration on Manus Island, is a miracle of survival and of testimony. To tell the unthinkable in impossible circumstances is an extraordinary act of courage and truth-telling. It is a searing, confronting, powerful testimony of indefinite detention and systematic torture. More than that, it is a work of resistance in the genre of decolonial literature, 1a significant piece of prison literature, and a scorching critique of refugee policies here in Australia, and by extension, globally.' (Introduction) Behrouz Boochani and the Manus Prison Narratives : Merging Translation with Philosophical Reading Omid Tofighian, On Manus, 400 men were at first imprisoned in an area smaller than a football field. In Boochani's Kurdish homeland, sunshine "graced human skin". Here there is a "heat that sears the eyeballs". The Manus inmates are "like pieces of meat in a metal pressure cooker". In his tiny room Boochani suffocates. Fans blow "a hot vicious kind of air". There is an ever-present foul smell of the men pressed up against each other – of dried sweat, of bad breath, and of shit, producing a stench "so vile that one feels ashamed to be part of the human species".As a student of Kurdish and Syrian-Arab heritage, I have grappled with the reality of these two conflicting identities for years. In Arab spaces especially, I have tried to amplify the stories of Kurdistan as much as possible. While there are many in my community who have expressed support and advocated for Kurdistan, I have noticed the lasting effects of bigotry and tribalism still taking place in our own campus spaces. Whether defending songs that mourn Saddam Hussein, chanting the Farsi translation of “jin, jiyan, azadi” without crediting its Kurdish origin, or claiming that a Kurdish state will only cause chaos in the Middle East, many on campus have reminded me that being Kurdish in diaspora does not make me immune to the erasure and oppression people in Kurdistan face. A chant, a cry from the heart, a lament, fuelled by a fierce urgency, written with the lyricism of a poet, the literary skills of a novelist, and the profound insights of an astute observer of human behaviour and the ruthless politics of a cruel and unjust imprisonment.' ARNOLD ZABLE Also, I would like to thank all of my friends: Omid Tofighian, Moones Mansoubi and others for helping me in this way and in this struggle. I don’t know what to say, just thank you very much. I think history will judge this generation and will judge all of us in this hard and dark period of Australian history.

Hoodlum had produced the VR documentary Inside Manus for SBS, which introduced us to the tragedy of Manus Island. We felt that No Friends But The Mountains would make such a compelling feature film.” In Manus, Boochani describes a man he calls ‘Maysam the Whore’ who mounts a cultural rebellion that would have been impossible in a Nazi camp. Maysam performs a kind of satirical cabaret, both to annoy the Australian guards (no noun in the book conveys as much contempt as the ‘Australian’) and to entertain the inmates. His act, Boochani writes, is a form of resistance, intended to ‘spite those people who exiled them to the prison.’ With the guards posting notices declaring ‘games prohibited’, the pretence of happiness allows refugees to preserve their humanity. Boochani has created a book that resists classification. It overlaps with genres such as prison literature, philosophical fiction, clandestine philosophical literature, prison narratives, Australian dissident writing, Iranian political art, transnational literature, decolonial writing and the Kurdish literary tradition. In an interview with Arnold Zable, Boochani describes how literature facilitated precisely the transcendence that Améry sought but couldn’t find in poetry. ‘[W]hen I was writing,’ he says, ‘I was completely free … those moments were the most exciting … because I found myself out of the prison as a free man.’Boochani, Behrouz (2018). No friend but the mountains: Writing from Manus Prison. Afterword by translator Omid Ofighian. Sydney: Picador (Pan MacMillan Australia). pp.359–362. ISBN 978-1-760-55538-2. One island kills vision, creativity and knowledge – it imprisons thought. The other island fosters vision, creativity and knowledge – it is a land where the mind is free. The first island is the settler-colonial state called Australia, and the prisoners are the settlers. The second island contains Manus Prison, and knowledge resides there with the incarcerated refugees. Boochani has defied and defeated the best efforts of Australian governments to deny asylum seekers a face and a voice. And what a voice: poetic yet unsentimental, acerbic yet compassionate, sorrowful but never self-indulgent, reflective and considered even in anger and despair. ... It may well stand as one of the most important books published in Australia in two decades, the period of time during which our refugee policies have hardened into shape - and hardened our hearts in the process.' SATURDAY PAPER Allahyari, Keyvan; Rae, Paul (1 February 2019). "Behrouz Boochani's literary prize cements his status as an Australian writer". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 2 February 2019 . Retrieved 2 February 2019. Zable, Arnold (2 February 2019). " 'We are part of Australian history': Behrouz Boochani, voice of exile". The Age. Archived from the original on 1 February 2019 . Retrieved 4 February 2019.