The People With No Camel

Based on a true story, The People With No Camel, weaves two journeys of freedom: A ten year old girl escapes Iran in 1981 with her family, due to the heavy persecutions they face as Baha'is, carrying nothing but three little handbags, new identities, their faith. The novel then takes a turn. The girl has become a woman, and the narrative shifts into parable. Infused with Persian mythical characters, the woman's quest to save her dying forest turns into her own spiritual journey - the search for ultimate freedom.

Roya Movafegh is a multimedia artist. Her work explores the dynamics of assimilation as well as the multiple facets of cultural identity. In addition to her photo publication in Eileen William's Wishes in Black & White featured on Oprah, her work has also appeared in Them=Us: Photographic Journeys Across Our Cultural Boundaries. Born in Austria to Iranian parents, she and her family moved to Tehran in 1976 only to escape it five years later due to the persecutions they faced as Baha'is. From an early age, she learned what it meant to be a foreigner, a person on the run, a refugee, and an immigrant. After living in Germany, the United States, and Canada, she moved to Harlem, New York, in 1998, where she founded The Young Harlem Photographers, a photography workshop for children and youth, which won the New York Times award at the Art of Change Group Show.