It emphasizes that the oppressed have a voice and the power to speak up and fight back, while also reminding us that all citizens have the obligation, responsibility, and power to raise their voices and defend their fellow citizens from mistreatment or abuse. This is a poignant, necessary story that paints a very real, very frank picture of hatred and ignorance, while also giving readers and marginalized individuals hope. Layla finds allies both inside and outside the camp, and before long, she herself is at the center of a rebellion against the despicable people in charge. While most people quietly comply, Layla is determined to fight back for the freedom that is rightfully hers. Seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are among the Muslims rounded up and transported to Manzanar, an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.

citizens allow themselves to be controlled by prejudice and fear and succumb to the hateful rhetoric of a populist leader. Heart-racing and emotional, Internment challenges readers to fight complicit silence that exists in our society today.Set shortly after the 2016 presidential election, Ahmed’s novel presents a chilling depiction of America, in which U.S. With the help of newly made friends also trapped within the internment camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the internment camp’s Director and his guards. Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens. Her creative non-fiction and poetry have appeared in Jaggery Lit, Entropy, the Fem, and Claudius Speaks.Ĭonnect with Samira on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, or Instagram. She’s appeared in the New York Times, New York Daily News, Fox News, NBC, NY1, NPR, and on BBC Radio. She’s lived in Vermont, New York City, and Kauai, where she spent a year searching for the perfect mango.Ī graduate of the University of Chicago, she taught high school English for seven years, worked to create over 70 small high schools in New York City, and fought to secure billions of additional dollars to fairly fund public schools throughout New York State.

Samira Ahmed was born in Bombay, India, and grew up in Batavia, Illinois, in a house that smelled like fried onions, spices, and potpourri.

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