Khaled Hosseini's next book Sea Prayer set amid Syrian refugee crisis; sales proceeds to be donated to UNHCR

New Delhi: A riveting collection of thoughts of a father watching over his sleeping son as they travel to foreign lands from their war-ridden homeland Syria sets the ground for famous Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini’s next book Sea Prayer to be released on August 30 this year. Written in the form of a letter, Sea Prayer is an account of the father-son’s life in Homs, Syria before the war, and of that city’s swift transformation from a home into a deadly war zone. “We are living in the midst of a displacement crisis of enormous proportions. [caption id=“attachment_4361299” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] File image of Khaled Hosseini. Reuters[/caption] Sea Prayer is an attempt to pay tribute to the millions of families, like Alan Kurdi’s, who have been splintered and forced from home by war and persecution,” the award-winning author said. Sea Prayer will be published in the UK and the Indian subcontinent on 30 August. Originally produced in collaboration with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, Sea Prayer was first released as a Guardian virtual film in September last year. To be published by Bloomsbury and illustrated by Dan Williams, the book will mark the third anniversary of the death of the three-year-old Syrian refugee, Alan Kurdi, who had drowned in the Mediterranean sea after leaving Syria on a boat. “The author will donate author proceeds from this book to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Khaled Hosseini Foundation to help fund life-saving relief efforts to help refugees around the globe,” the publisher said.