''Desert Flower: The Extraordinary Journey of a Desert Nomad'' is an
autobiographical
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
book written by
Waris Dirie Waris may refer to:
People
*Abdul Majeed Waris (born 1991), Ghanaian footballer
*Manmohan Waris (born 1967), Indian Punjabi folk/pop singer
*Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood (born 1942), British author
*Syed Mohammad Waris Hasan Naqvi (died 2008), Indian ...
and
Cathleen Miller
Cathleen Miller is an internationally best-selling American nonfiction writer based in California. Her 2013 book, ''Champion of Choice'', is the biography of United Nations leader Nafis Sadik.
She is also the author of Desert Flower (1998), co ...
,
published in 1998 about the life of
Somali model, Waris Dirie.
Summary
Despite suffering
female genital mutilation (FGM) at the age of five, and its life-long consequences, Waris Dirie escaped from her native
Galkayo
Galkayo ( so, Gaalkacyo, ar, جالكعيو Dr Badal Kariye Ba Bsit Ma Mba & Phd, ''The Kaleidoscopic Lover: The Civil War in the Horn of Africa & My Itinerary for a Peaceful Lover'', (AuthorHouse: 2010), p.116.) which in Af-Somali translates to ...
, Somalia, fleeing to
Mogadishu
Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Oc ...
to escape an
arranged marriage. Moving with relatives to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, she worked for a while at a
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...
and was discovered by chance by fashion photographer
Terence Donovan. She continued via modelling in film and fashion to a stage where she was considered a
supermodel
A supermodel, also spelled super-model or super model, is a highly paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in ''haute couture'' and commercial modeling. The term ''supermodel'' became prominent in the po ...
. It was at this point that, with Miller, she wrote this
autobiography. Shortly afterwards she became a
UN ambassador
A permanent representative to the United Nations (sometimes called a "UN ambassador")"History of Ambassadors", United States Mission to the United Nations, March 2011, webpagUSUN-a. is the head of a country's diplomatic mission to the United Nati ...
for the abolition of FGM.
[
]
Publication
*''Desert Flower'', William Morrow Pub, 1998 (1st edition),
Film adaptation
In 2009, the book was adapted into a film of the same name. Produced by Peter Herrmann and Benjamin Herrmann
Benjamin Herrmann (born July 17, 1971) is a German film producer and distributor.
Career
Benjamin Herrmann studied Directing at the Munich Academy for Film and Television. After graduating with his award-winning short film '' Der große Lacher ( ...
, the Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
n supermodel Liya Kebede
Liya Kebede ( am, ሊያ ከበደ; born 1 March 1978) is an Ethiopian-born model, maternal health advocate, clothing designer, and actress. She has appeared on the cover of ''Vogue'' three times.
Kebede has served as the WHO's Ambassador for M ...
plays Waris in the title role.
References
Related links Our goals: Waris Dirie Manifesto, ''desertflowerfoundation.org''
In-line references
1998 non-fiction books
American biographies
Works about female genital mutilation
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