The People Smuggler

Robin de Crespigny is a Sydney writer, film-maker, producer, director and a former Directing Lecturer at the Australian Film, Television & Radio School.

Her book, ‘The People Smuggler’  has won many awards.

That book began as a film script about the life of Ali Al Jenabi, an Iraqi refugee who became a people smuggler to get his family to safety. His legal battles to acquire his own freedom had made headlines. At once a non-fiction thriller and a moral maze, this book The People Smuggler is one man's epic story of trying to find a safe place in the world.

When Ali Al Jenabi flees Saddam Hussein's torture chambers, he is forced to leave his family behind in Iraq. What follows is an incredible international odyssey through the shadow world of fake passports, crowded camps and illegal border crossings, living every day with excruciating uncertainty about what the next will bring.

With enormous power and insight, The People Smuggler tells a story of daily heroism, bringing to life the forces that drive so many people to put their lives in unscrupulous hands. It is an utterly gripping portrait of a man cut loose from the protections of civilisation, attempting to retain his dignity and humanity while taking whatever path he can out of an impossible position.

'This is a story that had to be told.' The Weekend Australian
'An engrossing account of a man seen by some as a saviour and others as a criminal. A significant book.' Thomas Keneally
'Gripping.' The Age
'Tight, powerful and extraordinarily well written … a book which glories in the strength, courage and compassion of the human sprit.' The Drum
'Just mindblowing … a moving saga of endurance and bravery.' The Australian Way (Qantas Magazine)

Chair:  Noel McInnes