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Tackling The Refugee Crisis Through Writing

Cover of 'Refugee' by Alan Gratz
Courtesy of Alan Gratz
Cover of 'Refugee' by Alan Gratz
Cover of 'Refugee' by Alan Gratz
Credit Courtesy of Alan Gratz
Cover of 'Refugee' by Alan Gratz

Tens of thousands of people are forced to flee their homes each day due to conflict and persecution, according to the UN Refugee Agency. More people around the world are displaced now than ever before. 

Host Frank Stasio speaks with young-adult fiction author Alan Gratz about his new book 'Refugee'.

While war and international crises are often the subject of news reports, one Asheville-based author decided to explore the issue through a new lens: young-adult fiction.Alan Gratzis an acclaimed author whose new book “Refugee” (Scholastic Press/2017) tells the stories of three children seeking refuge throughout history: Josef is a Jewish boy in1930sNazi Germany, Isabel is a Cuban girl in 1994, andMahmoudis a Syrian boy in 2015.

Host Frank Stasio talks with Gratz about the book and the challenges of writing about sensitive topics for a young adult audience. Gratz speaks tonight at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill at 6 p.m., tomorrow at the BookMarks Festival in Winston-Salem and Sunday, Sept. 24 at Malaprop’s Bookstore in Asheville. 

Copyright 2017 North Carolina Public Radio

Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.