Edited by Nafiza Azad and Intisar Khanani, A Thousand Nights is a beautifully crafted and lovingly curated collection of short stories written by an international selection of 15 authors, all women of colour. Largely based on far-flung fables from Muslim countries and woven into a larger story of young people seeking sanctuary after loss and displacement, this anthology reaffirms the sacred function of storytelling for human beings.
Nusaybah is a young woman with no home and no family. In her search for safety, far from the military invaders who have overtaken her homeland, she encounters other child refugees, Khawla, Sameer, and Farzad. The four youths cling to safety in numbers, sharing the little resources they have to sustain a treacherous journey across the desert to a protected city. Along the way, they tell stories to each other every night, pulling from a vast array of fables they have heard passed down from others.
As each tale is written by a different contributor, there is richly diverse source material. To name just a few, Syrian American writer Ream Shukairy draws from her Syrian heritage to contribute “For Olives and Bread”; Diana Ma, a Chinese American author, retells the origin story of the Yinchuan, a city within the Muslim region of China, in “A Girl Called Goose”; and Somali Canadian contributor Ardo Omer relates the Somali folktale of two battling giants in “The Tale of Baxsan and the Cave of Birds.”
While each writer displays a keen sensibility for various cultural heritages of storytelling, there is a wide range of styles and tones on display. Some stories have a poetic, elusive style while some have a more simplified, childlike tone. For example, Zeyneb Holdridge’s “Beneath the Apple Tree” follows a sort of dream-logic narrative with the main character entering a strange and magical place that morphs constantly. Meanwhile, Farah Naz Rishi’s “The Bird-Catcher” has a very familiar heroic quest narrative, in which the protagonist must complete multiple impossible tasks set by the ruler of the land. Both stories take some inspiration from Turkish traditions.
The framing story of A Thousand Nights is just simple enough to evoke any and all stories of refugees throughout the Middle East and Asia (the recent crises of Palestine and Syria immediately spring to mind). However, Nusaybah, Khawla, Sameer, and Farzad are still well-written characters, and their dangerous journey never loses the necessary propulsion, sharp detail, or depth of emotion needed to ensure the entire book is still compelling. Overall, their story effectively deals with themes of home, faith, resilience, survival, and family.
Interestingly, the mix of main character backgrounds seems to point to a deliberate cultural melting pot: the children’s Arabic (Nusaybah, Khawla, and Sameer) and Persian (Farzad) names make it so that the book’s setting is not specific to one country or conflict but alludes to the commonalities between many nations, where stories like these are unfortunately so familiar. Regardless, one could easily imagine similar tales of forced exile and found families in Europe, Africa, and the rest of the world as well.
Each fable that is presented in A Thousand Nights is a fresh reminder that stories have a vital role in holding humanity together. Whether they are used to deliver a desperate shred of hope, make sense of a dark, painful, and chaotic world, form a delicate connection between strangers, or remind listeners of the precious existence of joy and beauty, these narratives are what make us human and keep us moving forward. No matter one’s background, a story can transport us to a different time or place and give us the strength, empathy, and hope we need to face hardship, cruelty, and loss.
