Still, They Persisted

Discover new voices in resistance literature and hear writers Sharon Bala, Marcos Aguinis, and Ayse Kulin share their stories of epic feats of persistence. Sharon Bala’s boatload of Sri Lankan refugees lands in Canada but instead of receiving sanctuary, they are imprisoned because of fears that their group includes terrorists; their quest for freedom moves to the courts. Aguinis shares an extraordinary story of resistance during the Spanish Inquisition. In Without a Country, Kulin’s characters flee Nazi Germany and find safe haven in Turkey. The authors discussed the common theme in their novels, the almost superhuman effort of individuals to persist in the face of danger and death, with Laurie Gwen Shapiro.