Refaat's book "If I Must Die" has surged to top 100 worldwide -- let's push it higher

And an interview with Aleema Khan, younger sister of Imran Khan

The push to make Refaat Alareer’s posthumous collection of poetry and prose a global bestseller is now in full swing. Based on the current rankings, it looks like thousands of you pre-ordered the book “If I Must Die” in the past few days. It has soared into the top 100 worldwide — #77 as I type this — which is nearly unheard of for a book of poetry, especially one from a small publisher.

We have nothing to do with the book, to be clear, and royalties go to his surviving family.

Our goal is ambitious: to push the book all the way to number one and to land it on the New York Times bestseller list. This is a stretch, but it’s genuinely within reach if all of us pull together. To have the book already ranked in the top 100 means there is serious momentum, but we have to keep it up.

If you already pre-ordered a copy, consider pre-ordering a few more for friends and family. And forward this email to anybody who’d be interested.

Because there has been so much demand for the book it is likely to sell out on Tuesday, the day it officially comes out, which means the way to get your copy and have it count toward the rankings is to pre-order it from Bookshop.org or Amazon before Tuesday. (We hate Amazon as much as you do, but its ranking is the one that the publishing industry cares about. Buying through Bookshop supports local bookstores and counts toward the NYT list.)

You can also ask your local library to order it.

If it does sell out on publication day, you can still probably order it that day from local stores online. Thank you for what you’re doing. Let it be a tale.

This morning, I interviewed Aleema Khan from Lahore (I was in Washington) in what was a fascinating and wide-ranging conversation. As Imran Khan’s sister, she has become an increasingly visible presence in Pakistan, and was only recently released from jail after pressure from Congress. She describes witnessing the Islamabad massacre on November 26th. She also relayed Khan’s new directive to the Pakistani diaspora, to withhold some portion of remittances to put pressure on the government. Here it is on YouTube for Breaking Points and on Twitter for Drop Site.

Syria’s (for now) President Bashar al Assad was rumored to be planning to address what remains of the nation today, but we’ll see if that actually materializes. In the meantime, incoming President Donald Trump has issued his own statement, quite a doozy:

Opposition fighters in Syria, in an unprecedented move, have totally taken over numerous cities, in a highly coordinated offensive, and are now on the outskirts of Damascus, obviously preparing to make a very big move toward taking out Assad. Russia, because they are so tied up in Ukraine, and with the loss there of over 600,000 soldiers, seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years. This is where former President Obama refused to honor his commitment of protecting the RED LINE IN THE SAND, and all hell broke out, with Russia stepping in. But now they are, like possibly Assad himself, being forced out, and it may actually be the best thing that can happen to them. There was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia, other than to make Obama look really stupid. In any event, Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!