Book Description

Freedom, truth, and justice are taken for granted in some countries. In others, they are aspirational. And yet in others, they are deemed justification for persecution, punishment, and silence. Through first-person essays and short stories, the contributors to The Uncaged Voice share their brutal yet heart-rending tales of fleeing the oppressive regimes of their homelands, where freedom of expression and the press is an ideal, not a reality, and where totalitarian forces attempt to subjugate, if not annihilate, all forms of dissention. From war correspondents reporting across dangerous “no-go zones,” to female journalists escaping conservative and patriarchal tyranny, to independent newspaper editors risking imprisonment or worse to criticize authoritarian states — these fifteen writers-in-exile continue to write, sharing both the suppressed truths of their past and the hopes they have for the future in Canada, their chosen place of asylum. With introductions by editor Keith Ross Leckie and Mary Jo Leddy, The Uncaged Voice tells often-silenced stories, not only of censorship and persecution, but also of the strength and resilience of those unwavering in their fight for the freedom of expression. Contributors include: Aaron Berhane, Gezahegn Mekonnen Demissie, Alexander Duarte, Ava Homa, Abdulrahman Matar, Ilamaran Nagarasa, Luis Horacio Nájera, Kiran Nazish, Pedro A. Restrepo, Maria Saba, Kaziwa Salih, Mahdi Saremifar, Bilal Sarwary, Savithri, and Arzu Yildiz.