New York Times book critic Dwight Garner finds illumination in the works of refugees

Published March 16, 2022 at 10:40 AM PDT

A woman kisses her daughter as she is hosted with other 30 Ukrainian refugees at a Ukrainian Monastery in Castel Gandolfo, in the outskirts of Rome, on March 11, 2022. (Gregorio Borgia/AP)

With the news of millions fleeing the war in Ukraine, New York Times’ book critic Dwight Garner has been turning to the literature of refugees for illumination.

He shares some of what he found with host Lisa Mullins.

Refugee literature recommendations from New York Times’ book critic Dwight Garner

“Tristia (Sorrow)” by Ovid
“The Odyssey” by Homer
“Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoevsky
“Afterparties” by Anthony Veasna So
“The Committed” by Viet Thanh Nguyen
“Conversations About Home (at the Deportation Center)” by Warsan Shire, from “The Penguin Book of Migration Literature: Departures, Arrivals, Generations, Returns” edited by Dohra Ahmad
“White Teeth” by Zadie Smith
“Being Brought from Africa to America – The Best of Phyllis Wheatley” by Phyllis Wheatley
“The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.