‘The Youth of God’- a novel about migration and it's bittersweet afterlife”–The book launch.

The Columbia Global Center | Nairobi hosted the fascinating launch of the novel “The Youth of God” authored by Hassan Ghedi Santur, an alum of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. The standing-room-only event drew friends, both old and new, to hear on the insights and development of a story well told.  

The novel, set in Toronto’s Somali neighborhood tells the story of Nuur, a sensitive and academic gifted Somali-Canadian teenager as he negotiates perilously between the calling of the faith and his intellectual abilities.  The intensely moving novel is also a powerful allegory of the struggle for the soul of Islam in modern times.

The book launch elicited an engaging conversation moderated by Adbi Latiff, a Nairobi based reporter, alum and friend to Hassan. They both paint an exciting backdrop to the novel, from their playful days at Columbia University's campus, where they would dress alike to confuse unsuspecting friends,   to the book that loosely ties into the life and experiences of Hassan.  Hassan who emigrated from Somalia to Canada at age 13, talks of the protagonist ''Nuur’ and how he relates to growing to Somalia and then experiencing a new country and culture void of the familiarity and adapting to the new home and the characters along the way who thereafter,  shape his life.  Hassan highlighted the influence of his old and new found culture, Islam, and what the different characters in the novel represent and how they shaped Hassan and the charter Nuur.     

In 2010, Hassan Santur published his debut novel Something Remains, followed by Maps of Exile, an exploration of the plight of African migrants in Europe. He is currently at work on another book, Other Worlds/Other Lives.