Author, Joost Hiltermann discusses his debut novel 'The Resurrected' with Professor Eugene Rogan (St Antony’s College).
They were meant to be dead, buried under the sand. But they survived. Two young Kurds manage to miraculously escape Saddam Hussein’s killing grounds to eventually find their way to America. A story of luck, nerve and perseverance, with many setbacks along the way.
Partially based on true events, this novel tells the story of a genocide as remembered by some who lived through it – as victims, perpetrators, and witnesses. By weaving together their testimonies – some true, some false, others imagined – the author paints an enthralling portrait of survival and destiny under the worst of circumstances, the 1988 Anfal campaign in Iraq, and what happened afterwards. In America the survivors build protected but split-soul lives typical of first-generation immigrants – until one day the past comes calling.
Published by Asfana Press in 2026: https://www.afsana-press.com/the-resurrected
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Joost Hiltermann is a Dutch researcher and writer. He was the Programme Director for the Middle East & North Africa at the International Crisis Group and was previously at Human Rights Watch. Joost holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has written for The New York Review of Books, The London Review of Books, Foreign Affairs and other publications.
Joost has published two books: A Poisonous Affair: America, Iraq, and the Gassing of Halabja (Cambridge, 2007) and Behind the Intifada: Labor and Women's Movements in the Occupied Territories (Princeton, 1991). The Resurrected is his debut novel. Joost was one of the main researchers of the genocide against the Kurds for Human Rights Watch in the 1990s, culminating in his fictionized retelling of the case. He has remained in close contact with the two (real) survivors and their families to this day.
