The Last Nomad

By Shugri Said Salh,

Book cover of The Last Nomad: Coming of Age in the Somali Desert

Book description

A remarkable and inspiring true story that "stuns with raw beauty" about one woman's resilience, her courageous journey to America, and her family's lost way of life.

Finalist for the 2022 Dayton Literary Peace Prize Nonfiction Award
Winner of the 2022 Gold Nautilus Award, Multicultural & Indigenous Category

Born in


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Why read it?

1 author picked The Last Nomad as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Shugri is the last nomad in her family. There are no more.

She fled the wars, the famines, the torture that had become Somalia and, through a treacherous journey became a refugee in hostile places, landing finally in California. Along with her constant confusion with escalators and washing machines, she overcame her fears of torture, and her suspicions, to become a nurse, a wife and a mother, a valuable citizen of her community.

I have met Shugri, and she is now one of the kindest, gentlest people I know. She has a lot to teach all of us about strength


From MaryAnn's list on strong Somali women.

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Interested in Somalia, nomads, and refugees?

Somalia 14 books
Nomads 23 books
Refugees 149 books