Dawn: Stories

A new book from Sarah Jessica Parker's imprint, SJP for Hogarth: Written from behind bars, the unforgettable collection from one of Turkey's leading politicians and most powerful storytellers.

In this essential collection, Selahattin Demirtaş's arresting stories capture the voices of ordinary people living through extraordinary times. A cleaning lady is caught up in a violent demonstration on her way to work. A five-year-old girl attempts to escape war-torn Syria with her mother by boat. A suicide bombing shatters a neighborhood in Aleppo. And in the powerful story, 'Seher', a young factory worker is robbed of her dreams in an unimaginable act of violence.

Written with Demirtas's signature wit, warmth, and humor, and alive with the rhythms of everyday speech, DAWN paints a remarkable portrait of life behind the headlines in Turkey and the Middle East - in all its hardship and adversity, freedom and hope.


About the Author
Born in 1973, Selahattin Demirtaş is a Zaza-Kurdish politician and former co-leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey. He began his political career as a human rights lawyer, and helped transform the HDP into a more inclusive party with an emphasis on progressive values, feminism, and LGBTQ rights. He passionately believes in the liberal, democratic future of Turkey. Imprisoned since November 2016, Demirtaş ran for president in 2014, and again in 2018 - where he conducted his campaign from his prison cell. Written from a maximum-security prison in Edirne, where he is still being held, Dawn is his first work of fiction