The Year of Things Lost

Dani Arbid

Forthcoming 2020

Winner of the inaugural Büro BDP Writing Prize, 2019. 

In this kaleidoscopic novel, Dani Arbid tells the story of a contemporary hero - the cult figure of Zahreddine, migrant, prophet and mystery, as they embark on nothing less than world domination. Tracing the legacy of the War on Terror and its brutal beginnings as the catalyst of a new world, The Year of Things Lost is a radical re-positioning of the novel as it moves from the Iraq War and Abu Ghraib revelations to the rise and fall of the Arab Spring, the migration “crisis” in Europe and the rise of rightwing populism across the Western world. 

Amidst an Arabfuturist, genderfluid backdrop, characters from all sides of an enduring struggle - military psychologists, human rights lawyers, arms dealers, freedom fighters - face off in a fight of life and death as events from the last twenty years erupt in this magnificent tale of love, rebellion and devotion, offering stark portrayals of the grittiest arenas of war. 

Born in London, raised in Abu Dhabi, Dani Arbid is a writer, filmmaker and recent entrepreneur. He has worked and lived in Istanbul, Beirut and Berlin where, in 2018, he co-founded Barakunan GmbH, a publishing and media start-up. In September 2019, he was awarded the inaugural Büro BDP Writing Prize, with the novel The Year of Things Lost forthcoming in 2020.