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Letters from Guantánamo  By  cover art

Letters from Guantánamo

By: Mansoor Adayfi, Antonio Aiello
Narrated by: Mansoor Adayfi, Fajer Al-Kaisi, Elias Khalil, Ibrahim El Helw
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About the Creator

Mansoor is a writer, artist, human rights advocate, and former prisoner detained for over 14 years without charges or trial at Guantánamo Bay Prison Camp. He was resettled to Belgrade, Serbia, in 2016 as part of an agreement between the US and Serbian governments. His essays, op-eds, and columns have been published in/on The New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Middle East Monitor, The New Arab, and Common Dreams, among others. He also contributed to the 2022 ECCHR publication Rupture and Reckoning—Guantanamo turns 20 and to the scholarly volume Witnessing Torture, published by Palgrave Press.
Adayfi wrote the introduction to "Ode to the Sea: Art from Guantánamo Bay," the art exhibition at John Jay College of Justice in New York City, helped produce the Whicker Prize-winning BBC radio documentary The Art of Now about art from Guantánamo, and was featured in the CBC podcast Love Me. In 2019, he won the Richard J. Margolis Award for nonfiction writers of social justice journalism. His critically acclaimed first book, Don’t Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantanamo, was published in 2021 by Hachette and won the 2022 Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award. Together with his friend and collaborator, Antonio Aiello, he was a Sundance Institute Fellow in Episodic TV to work on From Guantánamo, With Love, a limited series TV show adapted from Don’t Forget Us Here, now in development.
Adayfi graduated with honors from the Nikola Tesla University Faculty of Engineering with a bachelor's degree in management. His thesis, "Rehabilitation and Integration of Former Guantanamo Prisoners into Social Life and the Labor Market," served as the basis of the Guantanamo Survivors Fund, which he co-founded with American attorneys and US-based NGOs. In 2023, he organized the Close Guantanamo Conference at the European Parliament. Mansoor is currently pursuing his master’s degree in project management.

About the Co-Author

Antonio Aiello is a writer, editor, and journalist who creates stories from the periphery of the mainstream. His work has appeared in/on The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Beast, LitHub, Electric Literature, The Carolina Quarterly, and PEN America, among others. His interview with Don DeLillo was published in The Best American Nonrequired Reading. As former Content Director and Editor at PEN America, he founded and edited the online literary series The Illustrated PEN, PEN Ten Interviews, the PEN Poetry Series, PEN/Guernica Flash, and the translation magazine Glossolalia. In collaboration with Princeton University, Aiello directed the NEH-funded digitization of PEN America's collection of rare and at-risk audio and video recordings dating back to 1966. More recently, he worked with his friend and collaborator, Mansoor Adafyi, on Adayfi's memoir, Don’t Forget Us Here, Lost and Found at Guantánamo, graphic narratives for The Nib and Guantanamo Voices, and numerous articles and opinion pieces. Together with Adayfi, Aiello is a Sundance Institute Fellow in Episodic TV, and adapted Don’t Forget Us Here into the limited series TV show From Guantánamo, With Love, now in development.

Dear Listener,

Why did I choose to tell this story now, in this way?
"I wrote this story now to remind you how the US Military Prison Camp at Guantánamo remains open after 22 years and still holds 30 prisoners. While we know men were tortured there, we continue to ask “Could Guantánamo have been more humane?” instead of “Why does Guantánamo even exist and why is it still open?” Guantánamo is a dark and scary place, but if you look closer, you will find friendship, love, and even art. This is what I want to share with you. Of the 779 men held there, only 10 were ever charged with crimes and only 1 was convicted. So, who were we? We were sons, brothers, husbands, fathers, and so much more. I was a teenager when I arrived, stubborn and afraid. These letters offer an intimate and sometimes humorous glimpse of how I became a man over more than 14 years in prison. I always wrote my letters chained, sometimes on hunger strike, often in isolation cells. My letters are fragments of my soul and bear witness to a dark period in US history. Like me, they are lucky to have survived. I hope they inspire a deeper understanding of how resilient the human spirit is, and how hope triumphs over despair, light over darkness. With love from Guantánamo, Mansoor Adayfi, GTMO441"– Mansoor Adayfi, writer of Letters from Guantánamo

What listeners say about Letters from Guantánamo

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This is a Captivating Listen!

Full disclosure: I had a minor contribution to this project. That said, I had no idea what the final project would look like— or sound like—and this is beyond my wildest dreams. I’m quite familiar with Guantanamo and didn’t think I could be so drawn into an audio book about it — but I couldn’t walk away from this. The story is compelling, the performance is riveting, and I listened to the entire book in one sitting. I cannot recommend this enough.

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great story

like most Americans I had no clue as to what goes on down in Guantanamo Bay other than what they broadcast on the news Great job writing this biography

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Masterful storytelling

The art of storytelling has the ability to transport you to a different realm and speak to your very soul. This was one such book. Witty and humorous yet profoundly deep and insightful, Mansoor has a way of taking you through a roller coaster of different emotions. From great heights to plummeting lows, you experience this book as one would who actually lived it. With hair raising storylines and heart palpitating performances and special effects Mansoor truly embodies what it means to be a masterful storyteller.

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Great method of storytelling

Took a horrible subject most avoid and presented it in a way that spoke right to your heart mind and consciousness

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Storytelling Art

Each letter being read is so captivating. Not only did I learn more about Guantanamo, I laughed at the sarcasm sprinkled throughout and teared up at numerous moments. Whether it's the longing for freedom and love of life or the mourning of what was cruelly and unjustly taken away. In the end, these letters are a testament of an enduring spirit which continues to hope and seek strength from a faith that's as beautiful as Mansoor is. Close your eyes and get lost listening to these letters...

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Must read

Sad reality. It need to happen so we must change. Reparations must be made to this wrongly accused humans.

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