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Samira Ahmed

Samira Ahmed

Writer

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Internment

Internment

A story of hope and resistance.

See the exclusive cover reveal and read an excerpt in Entertainment Weekly

A story of hope and resistance aimed at young audiences, Internment gets at the heart of the terrifying state of our politics. Set in a horrifying “15 minutes in the future” United States, the book follows 17-year-old Layla Amin as she is forced into an internment camp for Muslim Americans along with her parents. With the help of newly made friends also trapped in the 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. Internment questions the imaginary boundaries that separate us, and challenges readers to fight the complicit silence that exists in our society today.

AmazonBarnes & NobleIndieboundkoboAppleGoogle PlayBAMBookshopAudible
Litte, Brown Books for Young Readers, Hachette, 2019

Awards & Highlights

  • Nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards for Young Adult Fiction Best Books 2019, Semifinalist
  • Best Fiction for Young Adults!
  • 2019-2020 Georgia Peach Book Award List
  • 2020-2021 Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Awards List sponsored by the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association
  • Nominated for the Lincoln Award 2021
  • Winner of the Pennsylvania State Literacy Association’s Keystone to Reading Secondary Book Award for 2020-2021
  • Finalist for Missouri’s 2021-2022 State Awards Program, MASL Readers Award
  • Debuted at #4 on the NYT Bestseller List!
  • Debuted at #8 on the indie bestseller list!
  • Paperback at #10 on the NYT Bestseller List!

Praise for Internment

For those of you who sometimes wish your parents would just let you run your own life, let Love, Hate & Other Filters be your savior.

Seventeen Magazine

Internment is a visceral, essential book, both horrifying and hopeful. Ahmed deserves a spot on every book shelf in America.

Kiersten White
New York Times Bestselling author of And I Darken and The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein

A powerful and poignant exploration of a nightmare made real. It’s a testament to Ahmed’s writing then, that the heart of the story is one of hope. Read INTERNMENT. Raise a fist.

David Arnold
New York Times bestselling author of Moquitoland and Kids of Appetite

An unsettling and important book for our times.

Publishers Weekly, starred review

It’s an action-packed thriller that will make your teen sit up and think.

Family Circle

A riveting and cautionary tale. Internment urges us to speak up and speak out, to ask questions and demand answers, and when those answers prove unsatisfactory, to resist.

Stacey Lee
award-winning author of Outrun the Moon

Taking on Islamophobia and racism in a Trump-like America, Ahmed’s magnetic, gripping narrative written in a deeply humane and authentic tone, is attentive to the richness and complexity of the social ills at the heart of the book.

Kirkus, starred review

Internment is a scathing indictment of our current political times. Ahmed has gifted us Layla, a courageous young revolutionary who fights against all boundaries of hate and ignorance. A must read for activists who continue to push back against the big What-Ifs.

Ibi Zoboi
National Book Award finalist, author of American Street and Pride

…a poignant, necessary story that paints a very real, very frank picture of hatred and ignorance, while also giving readers and marginalized individuals hope.

Booklist, starred review

This heart-thumping book horrifies and inspires; Layla’s struggle reminds readers to speak up and that only the persistent and resistant can make a change.

Teen Vogue

Powerful. Emotive…a must-read.

Forbes

Internment builds a great case for empathy on all sides and for fighting history repeating itself.

Sami Thomason
Square Books, Oxford, MS

Samira Ahmed’s Internment is timely in the most harrowing way…. will stay with you long after it ends.

Popsugar

A necessary read for all young people, now more than ever.

Cecilia Cackley
East City Bookshop, Washington DC

[A] raw portrait of a young activist coming into her own….a potent and impassioned reminder of what American nationalism led to in our not-so-distant past.

New York Times Book Review

Terrifying, inspiring, heart-pounding, and incredibly timely. With an ultimately hopeful voice, Samira Ahmed shows how one person and small acts of bravery can spark a flame of resistance and inspire others to bring change.

Lauren Nopenz Fairley
Curious Iguana, Frederick, MD

Teens who finish Ahmed’s captivating work won’t soon overlook the ugly truths stamped into our nation’s history. VERDICT Sensitive and stirring. For all collections.

School Library Journal, starred review

[Gives] understanding [to] the extreme dynamics of race in America from a Muslim perspective.

PBS News Hour

Thank you to Samira Ahmed for giving us Layla, the Strong and Independent Female Character that we are always promised, but never actually get.

Emily Knosher
Read It Again Bookstore, Monticello, NY

A testament to what girls are capable of when they are overlooked, Internment is a masterwork of dignity and grit.

E.K. Johnston
#1 New York Times bestselling author of Exit, Pursued by a Bear

Internment sets itself apart…terrifying, thrilling and urgent.

Entertainment Weekly

…Sensitive and stirring. For all collections.

School Library Journal, starred review

By the end of the first two pages of this title the reader will be breathless with the anticipation and excitement of what’s to come.

School Library Connection, starred review

A reminder that even in a world filled with divisions and right-wing ideology, young people will rise up and demand equality for all.

Kirkus Reviews, starred review

A riveting, ferocious read that will keep you up at night, a story about complicity and cowardice, strength, vulnerability, and hope.

Eugenia Vela
BookPeople, Austin, TX
« Ink Knows No Borders
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