by Fabio Geda Translated from the Italian by Howard Curtis

To be published by David Fickling Books & Harvill Secker in June 2011

In the Sea There Are Crocodiles is a book about the tragedy of the situation in Afghanistan and its effect upon ordinary people there; it is about the huge divisions in the world, yet how human empathy and decent behaviour can have extraordinary influence.  The book, based on a true story, follows ten-year-old Enaiatollah Akbari, who wakes one morning to find that his mother has left him to return home to Afghanistan. They had fled to Pakistan to escape the sectarian violence tearing their country apart.  In recounting the story of Akbari’s remarkable five year journey to safety, Geda gives voice to someone whose moving and salutary story could well have gone untold and unnoticed.  Importantly, this book demonstrates how crucial it is that we keep our borders and our minds open on the subject of asylum.

Fabio Geda was born in Turin in 1972. A successful Italian novelist, he also writes for several Italian magazines and newspapers, and teaches creative writing in Scuola Holden, Turin.  His first novel, Per il resto del viaggio ho sparato agli indiani, was published in 2007 in Italy, France and Romania, and won the Best Debut Award for Literary Via Po Torino. He released his second novel, L’esatta sequenza dei gesti, in 2008.

 n the Sea There Are Crocodiles is Geda’s first book to be translated into English. It is based on his relationship with Enaiatollah Akbari, whom he looked after upon the young boy’s arrival in Turin.

Howard Curtis has translated Francisco Coloane’s Tierra del Fuego and five novels by Jean-Claude Izzo for Europa Editions, including all three books in Izzo’s Marseilles trilogy. His translation of the final book in this trilogy, Solea, was shortlisted for the French-American and Florence Gould Translation Prize in 2008.

Originally posted with the url: www.englishpen.org/writersintranslation/supportedtitles2011/intheseatherearecrocodiles/