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Songs of a War Boy

Deng Thiak Adut Ben Mckelvey

$22.99

Paperback

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English
Hachette Australia
31 July 2018
Deng Adut was six years old when war came to his village in South Sudan. Taken from his mother, he was conscripted into the Sudan People's Liberation Army. He was taught to use an AK-47 then sent into battle.

Shot in the back, dealing with illness and the relentless brutality of war, Deng's future was bleak. A child soldier must kill or be killed. But, after five years, he was rescued by his brother John and smuggled into a Kenyan refugee camp. With the support of the UN and help from an Australian couple, Deng and John became the third Sudanese family resettled in Australia.

Despite physical injuries and ongoing mental trauma, Deng seized the chance he'd been given. Deng taught himself to read and, in 2005, he enrolled in a Bachelor of Laws at Western Sydney University.

Songs of a War Boy is the inspirational story of a young man who has overcome unthinkable adversity to become a lawyer, refugee advocate and NSW Australian of the Year. Deng's memoir is an important reminder of the power of compassion and the benefit to us all when we open our doors and our hearts to those fleeing war, persecution and pain.

By:   ,
Imprint:   Hachette Australia
Country of Publication:   Australia
Dimensions:   Height: 196mm,  Width: 128mm,  Spine: 24mm
Weight:   240g
ISBN:   9780733640520
ISBN 10:   0733640524
Pages:   320
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  ELT Advanced ,  Primary
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Deng Thiak Adut (Author) Refugee advocate and lawyer Deng Thiak Adut arrived in Australia as a refugee in 1998. His first book, Songs of a War Boy, details his harrowing experience as a child soldier in Sudan. In 2016 he was selected to give the prestigious Australia Day Address at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He is the co-founder of AC Law Group, a law firm known for its commitment to the communities of Western Sydney. To honour his brother, Deng established the John Mac Foundation to further education and justice in Australia and Sudan, including providing university scholarships for people from refugee backgrounds. In 2017 he was named NSW Australian of the Year. Ben Mckelvey (Author) Ben Mckelvey is a freelance writer and editor from Sydney who has filed for Good Weekend, GQ, Voyeur, Rolling Stone, The Bulletin, Cosmo, Cleo and the Age and West Australian newspapers. Ben's previous gigs have included editing Sports&Style and Juice magazines, and working at the Sydney Morning Herald as a Senior Feature Writer. He has been embedded with the ADF in East Timor and Iraq, and has worked independently in Iran and Afghanistan.

Reviews for Songs of a War Boy

Whether or not Australia deserves the praise and faith vested in us by Adut, he certainly makes one want to strive to live up to his vision of the nation he now so proudly calls home. - ArtsHubIn our oft overheated conversation about migrants, Songs of a War Boy seriously challenges our notions of what it means to be Australian. It's much less about genetic heritage than the fact that we are welcoming and free and live by the rule of law. Here, there's an immense pride in a citizenship that most of us take for granted. - Sydney Morning Herald


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