Three Days in Damascus.
Published by Palewell Press
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While traveling to Jordan, Lebanon and Syria to interview Iraqi refugees and hear their stories, activist and advocate Kim Schultz never expected to fall in love. But that is exactly what happened. This memoir is the story of an American woman and an Iraqi man set against the backdrop of the Iraqi refugee crisis and the brewing Syrian civil war.
With roughly 65 million refugees worldwide including approximately five million Iraqis displaced from their homes since the U.S. led invasion, this urgent and often humorous memoir examines the lives of dozens of Iraqi refugees, including one named Omar, trying desperately to survive in a world blind to their plight.
Breaking assumptions, stereotypes and expectations, the author fights for Omar in a whirlwind Middle Eastern romance and subsequent three-year intercontinental, internet relationship in the shadow of a revolution.
A tale of culture, war, devastation, redemption and hope.
This isn’t supposed to be a love story.
Reviews and Interviews
NPR Radio / WBEZ Worldview interview
Huffington Post interview
KFAI Radio interview
Minneapolis Star-Tribune interview
Winona Daily News interview
Kim Schultz has written an earnest and honest account of two people from opposite poles finding love and heartache in the long shadow of an unforgiving war. Her story is a spirited struggle against larger forces - bureaucracy, culture, religion, human displacement and loss.
Kirk W. Johnson, author of To Be a Friend is Fatal: the Fight to Save the Iraqis America Left Behind and founder of the List Project
This heartfelt memoir will take you into another world, as Kim and Omar meet and walk many of love’s pathways. An American volunteer interviewing Iraqi refugees about the horrors of war, Kim falls in love with Omar, and thus begins a three-year odyssey. Kim’s story will resonate with anyone for whom the path of love never did run smooth.
Chellie Campbell, bestselling author From Worry to Wealthy and The Wealthy Spirit
Kim Schultz has written a searing love story set against the backdrop of a world tragedy: the plight of millions of refugees fleeing violence in the Middle East. It is a compelling read that will make you a look at world news in a different, more personal, way.
Jim Michaels, author of A Chance in Hell: The men who triumphed over Iraq’s deadliest city and turned the tide of war.
In a breathless torrent of impressions, Kim Schultz reveals the human catastrophe that is Iraq and the near impossibility of connecting one-on-one with its victims. Though 3 Days in Damascus is a love story, it vividly illustrates that wounds to the soul of a culture are more disabling than those that bleed. As it always must, compassion eclipses romance.
Dr. Robert Rosser, Former Executive Director, Iraqi Student Project
In this sweeping, rivetingly told tale, Kim Schultz journeys into both the collective pain of the Iraqi people, and into the depths of her own heart. With emotional precision and soulful wit, she navigates the guilt that she feels as an American towards a country and its people decimated by decades of US-led sanctions and military action...by sharing her story, and those like Omar, the refugee whom she loves, Kim does what no brief CNN report or New York Times article can do: namely, fully humanize the pain of Iraqis and the plight of an entire people.
Mike Otterman, author of Erasing Iraq, and Executive Director of the Bernard & Sandra Otterman Foundation
Author Events
Chicago Book Launch
12/19/2016
The Goodman Theatre
Minneapolis, MN
1/16/2017
Magers & Quinn Bookstore
New York, NY
1/30/2017
Bluestockings Booktore
Washington, D.C.
2/6/2017
Busboys and Poets
Copy Of -Washington, D.C.
2/6/2017
Busboys and Poets
London Book Launch
2/9/2017
The Hive in Dalston
Palm Beach, Fl
2/26/2017
Private book clubs
New York, NY
2/28/2017
Intersections International
Arlington Heights
4/12/2017
Private Book Club
Akumal, MX
5/29/2017
La Lunita
Evanston, IL
7/31/2017
Evanston Public Library
Williston, ND
9/28/2017
Train ND
St. Peter, MN
3/7/2018
Gustavus Adolphus College
Palm Beach, Fl
3/8/2018
St. Marks Peace Lecture Series
Elgin, IL
8/20/2019
Gail Borden Public Library