ABOUT REMZIJE SHERIFI

Remzije Sherifi was born in Prishtinë in Kosova, one of the six children of an Albanian police instructor and his wife. When she was small the family moved to Gjilan in the south-east of the country where she completed her education. Later she attended Prishtinë University to study Electrical Engineering, but her heart was in other activities. Already she was broadcasting on the new Radio Gjilan. On graduating she took a full time post and carved out a career as a radio journalist.

[ READ THIS ARTICLE ]

FOREWORD TO SHADOW BEHIND THE SUN

George Szirtes was born in Budapest in 1948 and came to Great Britain as a refugee in 1956. His first book, The Slant Door, was published in 1979 and won the Faber Memorial prize the following year. In 1982, he was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and, since then, has published several books and won various other prizes including the T S Eliot Prize for Reel in 2005. His work has been translated into numerous languages.

[ READ THIS ARTICLE ]

JOYCE MCMILLAN ON SHADOW BEHIND THE SUN

Shadow Behind The Sun is perhaps the first substantial book to emerge from the wave of new Scots who have arrived here in the last decade from war zones across the world - from Iraq and Afghanistan. from Sudan and Zimbabwe, and of course from former Yugoslavia, in this case from Kosova.

[ READ THIS ARTICLE ]

MOTION TO THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT
PATRICIA FERGUSON MSP ON 6TH MARCH 2008

S3M-1495 Patricia Ferguson: Shadow Behind the Sun

That the Parliament welcomes the nomination of Shadow Behind the Sun, the first published work by Remzije Sherifi, for a Sundial Scottish Arts Council award; acknowledges the courage of the author who, as an Albanian Kosovar, lived through persecution and hardship before her flight to Scotland, and recognises the important support and assistance provided by Remzije Sherifi to her fellow refugees and asylum seekers in Glasgow.

LAUNCH WEEK

Some pictures from the Launch Week of Shadow Behind the Sun.

[ READ THIS ARTICLE ]

SOME MEDIA COVERAGE

Colin Waters' Review in Scottish Review of Books

Annie Brown's article in the Daily Record

Tom Shields article in the Sunday Herald

Daisy MacKenzie's Review in Northwords Now

Roger Hutchinson in Scotsman Critique [PDF]

Fred Johnston in Kiosque! (Galway, Ireland)

EXTRACT: BEFORE THE ATTACK 

Instead of going into the basement we spent that first night with Rama and Nafi, remaining close for protection and comfort. Also with us were another neighbour, Ramadan, and his wife and children, boys of an age with my younger two.

[ READ THIS ARTICLE ]

DANCING TOGETHER: THE PERFORMANCE

Several times in Shadow Behind the Sun Remzije Sherifi refers to a performance in preparation. Between closing her narrative and the book’s publication rehearsals were completed and To Glasgow with Love was performed to great acclaim. It might equally be called To Scotland, or To Britain, with Love. The account below is from Remzije Sherifi and Sharon Roulston, her assistant. In the book Ms Roulston is referred to simply as ‘Sharon’.

[ READ THIS ARTICLE ]

A CHOICE OF BOOKS FROM 2007

Towards the end of the year Robert Davidson was asked by a Scottish newspaper to recommend his books of the year. Looking to the late works of Edward Said (pictures opposite), this was his response.

[ READ THIS ARTICLE ]

THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears below. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and ‘to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories.’

[ READ THIS ARTICLE ]

WALKING THE TOWPATH

Through the summer Robert Davidson conducted a lengthy series of interviews with Remzije Sherifi and, together, with a number of Asylum Seekers and activists. Located in Glasgow in a flat temporarily vacated by Kirstie Gordon he walked for fifty minutes to interview each day along the Forth and Clyde Canal and fifty minutes back. These are the poems that resulted.

[ READ THIS ARTICLE ]