Description
‘Where do you come from?’
A novel about migration, mobility, and growing up mixed-race in Europe in the voice of a ten-year-old girl. Her mother, an activist in Swiss human rights groups, wants the family to put down roots. Her father, a chemist in Zanzibar, can only find precarious work as a cook. Subjected to daily acts of racism, then fired, he retreats into himself – until one day he is gone.
In My Father’s Home the Earth Smells like the Heavens is a poignant and powerful debut about the human need to belong.
Translated from German by Yana Ellis.
Praise for In My Father’s Home the Earth Smells Like the Heavens
‘Samira El-Maawi uses a child’s-eye view to powerful effect, to describe the kind of prejudice that no child should have to face.This novel is like a conjuring trick, producing vast richness and complexity from simple, minimalist prose.’ ~ Ruth Martin, International Booker Shortlistee & translator of Shida Bazyar’s The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran
‘Through a daughter’s eyes, this moving story explores a father’s homeland, identity, love, struggles, and loss—and his lasting impact on his family. A compelling read for anyone who has wrestled with the meaning of home and finding where they belong.’ ~ Aarti Kumari, founder of the Women Who Redefine Colour Book Club
‘An impressive contemporary document.’ ~ Dominique Züger, arttv.ch
‘A glimpse of racism in everyday life in Swizterland […] Samira El-Maawi deliberately tells the story simply, associatively and in short scenes. She finds concise images for the child’s experiences.’ ~ Martina Läubli, NZZ am Sonntag
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Samira El-Maawi writes and publishes prose and poetry. She is also trained in screenwriting and is a certified psychological coach. Subsidised with various funding contributions, Samira focuses her texts on topics such as belonging, social labelling, inclusion and is analysing microcosms through her writing. Samira also co-facilitates writing workshops on recovery processes and leads workshops on diversity and writing.
Yana Ellis found her ideal career in her middle years and graduated in 2021 with a merit in her MA in Translation from the University of Bristol. She was shortlisted for the 2022 John Dryden Translation Competition and in the same year was awarded an ALTA Travel Fellowship. She translates fiction and creative non-fiction from Bulgarian and German. Her work has appeared in The Trinity Journal of Literary Translation, No Man’s Land, The Common, SAND Journal, and Trafika Europe, and is forthcoming in Words Without Borders and Turkoslavia. Yana’s first full-length literary translation The Wolves of Staro Selo (recipient of the PEN Translates Award) was published by Héloïse Press in March 2025 and shortlisted for the Society of Authors Translators’ Association First Translation Prize.
