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Crooked Teeth: A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir
A queer Syrian refugee reckons with a life spent out of place.
“Writing this memoir is a betrayal.” So begins this electrifying personal account from Danny Ramadan, a celebrated novelist who has long enjoyed the shield his fiction provides. Now, to tell the story of his life, he must revisit dark corners of his past he’d rather forget and unearth memories of a city he can no longer return to.
Starting with his family’s humble beginnings in Damascus, he takes readers on an epic, border-crossing to the city’s underground network of queer safe homes; to a clandestine party at a secluded villa in Cairo; through Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East, a reckless hoax that threatens the safety of Syria’s LGBTQ+ community, and a traumatic six-week imprisonment; to beaches and sunsets with friends in Beirut; to an arrival in Vancouver that’s not as smooth as it promised to be; and ultimately to a life of hard-won comfort and love.
What emerges is a powerful refutation of the oversimplified refugee narrative—a book that holds space for joy alongside sorrow, for nuance and complicated ambivalences. Written with fearless intimacy, Crooked Teeth is a singular achievement in which a master storyteller learns that his greatest story is his own.
“Writing this memoir is a betrayal.” So begins this electrifying personal account from Danny Ramadan, a celebrated novelist who has long enjoyed the shield his fiction provides. Now, to tell the story of his life, he must revisit dark corners of his past he’d rather forget and unearth memories of a city he can no longer return to.
Starting with his family’s humble beginnings in Damascus, he takes readers on an epic, border-crossing to the city’s underground network of queer safe homes; to a clandestine party at a secluded villa in Cairo; through Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East, a reckless hoax that threatens the safety of Syria’s LGBTQ+ community, and a traumatic six-week imprisonment; to beaches and sunsets with friends in Beirut; to an arrival in Vancouver that’s not as smooth as it promised to be; and ultimately to a life of hard-won comfort and love.
What emerges is a powerful refutation of the oversimplified refugee narrative—a book that holds space for joy alongside sorrow, for nuance and complicated ambivalences. Written with fearless intimacy, Crooked Teeth is a singular achievement in which a master storyteller learns that his greatest story is his own.
296 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 28, 2024
About the author
Danny Ramadan
14 books196 followersDanny Ramadan (He/Him) is a Syrian-Canadian author, public speaker and adovate for LGBTQ+ refugees. His debut novel, The Clothesline Swing, was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award, longlisted for Canada Reads, and named a Best Book of the Year by the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star.
His children book, Salma the Syrian Chef, won the Nautilus Book Award, The Middle East Book Award, and named a Best Book by both Kirkus and School Library Journal.
Ramadan’s forthcoming novel, The Foghorn Echoes (2022), and his memoir, Crooked Teeth (2024), to be released by Penguin Random House.
Through his fundraising efforts, Ramadan raised over $250,000 for Syrian LGBTQ+ identifying refugees.
He has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC and currently lives in Vancouver with his husband.
His children book, Salma the Syrian Chef, won the Nautilus Book Award, The Middle East Book Award, and named a Best Book by both Kirkus and School Library Journal.
Ramadan’s forthcoming novel, The Foghorn Echoes (2022), and his memoir, Crooked Teeth (2024), to be released by Penguin Random House.
Through his fundraising efforts, Ramadan raised over $250,000 for Syrian LGBTQ+ identifying refugees.
He has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC and currently lives in Vancouver with his husband.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 27, 2024
I was in awe of this brutally honest and open memoir about best-selling and award-winning queer Syrian Canadian, Danny Ramadan's new memoir!
I especially loved how they were utterly transparent about struggling with sharing parts of their past they weren't comfortable with recounting gratuitously because it would bring them too much pain.
This was amazing on audio narrated by the author himself and a MUST READ, especially during pride month! I cannot recommend this book enough!!
I especially loved how they were utterly transparent about struggling with sharing parts of their past they weren't comfortable with recounting gratuitously because it would bring them too much pain.
This was amazing on audio narrated by the author himself and a MUST READ, especially during pride month! I cannot recommend this book enough!!
May 18, 2024
I really enjoyed the novel The Foghorn Echoes so I was really eager to read CROOKED TEETH: A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir by Danny Ramadan and I loved this memoir! It’s one of my fave memoirs now. Ramadan shares his experiences growing up in Syria and finding Queer community. From living in Beirut and ultimately moving to Vancouver his journey had intense moments of violence and uncertainty and joys of friendships and intimacies. Ramadan’s talent as a writer shines as he tells his story on his own terms. This book took me through many emotions. I was reading it during my lunch break at work and when I read the part about his imprisonment I had to stop. That part was so raw and emotional and powerful. At the end of the book I was just casually bawling my eyes out. What a memoir!!! I loved the way he would talk directly to the reader and the way the fine craft of his writing puts me as the reader in his trusting words full of sincerity. I took this book to Davie Street where he mentions going to the Fountainhead Pub and seeing the opera singer at this intersection. I had the pleasure of attending last year’s Vancouver Writers Fest Incite event featuring Ramadan and hopefully I can see him again soon.
Thank you to the publicist and publisher for my advance review copy!
Thank you to the publicist and publisher for my advance review copy!
June 5, 2024
This was soooooo incredible. One of the best memoirs I’ve read in a long time.
May 28, 2024
4.8 ⭐️ ARC received through The Ubyssey, published review coming soon 😗
overall a stunning book and fascinating to see how the skill from fiction writing presents in a memoir space
my Ubyssey piece is largely praise so here is my one recurring critique: wish there were a bit more points of concrete resolution or grounding in the ‘story’—notable non linear chronological approach that brushes over some points i found myself wanting for (sure he learned a lot from him but did he find issue with the 40yo man pursuing a teenager?) did he keep in contact with his found family consistently while he was in egypt, or was it more touch and go? we don’t hear about his ‘Mother’ until the last chapter which I was grateful for but for someone who talks sm about what people meant to him and how he was who he was because of these people the ease in which they sometimes slipped into the background felt at times like they weren’t holding as much weight —not casting any judgement that this was the reality i think it’s just a bit how it read!
overall a stunning book and fascinating to see how the skill from fiction writing presents in a memoir space
my Ubyssey piece is largely praise so here is my one recurring critique: wish there were a bit more points of concrete resolution or grounding in the ‘story’—notable non linear chronological approach that brushes over some points i found myself wanting for (sure he learned a lot from him but did he find issue with the 40yo man pursuing a teenager?) did he keep in contact with his found family consistently while he was in egypt, or was it more touch and go? we don’t hear about his ‘Mother’ until the last chapter which I was grateful for but for someone who talks sm about what people meant to him and how he was who he was because of these people the ease in which they sometimes slipped into the background felt at times like they weren’t holding as much weight —not casting any judgement that this was the reality i think it’s just a bit how it read!
July 19, 2024
In the opening pages of “Crooked Teeth”, Ramadan speaks directly to his readers.
“Where will you weigh in on the balance between empathy and sympathy? Will you tear up when I tell you about my lows? Will you find me cocky when I celebrate my highs? Did you pick up this memoir with an expectation based on your preconceived notion of what a refugee is, what a gay man is, what a Syrian man is? Are you willing to let go of these notions at the turn of this page and trust me in the telling of my own story. Are you willing to let go of the simple narrative of here is “good” and there is “bad” when it comes to refugees arriving in Canada? Will you trust me, as I am about to trust you? Typing every word on these pages is my own act of trusting you, and trusting you with my truth goes against every defence mechanism I have acquired throughout my life.”
Ramadan goes on to describe a few of his experiences as a new Canadian that explain why it’s difficult for him to trust. Some similar themes as in Y-Dang Troeung’s memoir, Landbridge, like the complicated transition of coming from somewhere else, the vulnerability of being a refugee, and the expectation of ongoing gratitude.
From here, Ramadan takes his readers back to his childhood in Damascus, Syria, his young adulthood in Cairo, Egypt and eventually to Vancouver, Canada. Everywhere, Danny finds and creates family, community and queer safe places. His personality shines through in his writing. From time to time, he effectively breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to readers.
Thank you, Danny, for taking that leap of faith and trusting readers. Yours is a story I’m grateful to have read, learned from and will never forget. Be well.
“Where will you weigh in on the balance between empathy and sympathy? Will you tear up when I tell you about my lows? Will you find me cocky when I celebrate my highs? Did you pick up this memoir with an expectation based on your preconceived notion of what a refugee is, what a gay man is, what a Syrian man is? Are you willing to let go of these notions at the turn of this page and trust me in the telling of my own story. Are you willing to let go of the simple narrative of here is “good” and there is “bad” when it comes to refugees arriving in Canada? Will you trust me, as I am about to trust you? Typing every word on these pages is my own act of trusting you, and trusting you with my truth goes against every defence mechanism I have acquired throughout my life.”
Ramadan goes on to describe a few of his experiences as a new Canadian that explain why it’s difficult for him to trust. Some similar themes as in Y-Dang Troeung’s memoir, Landbridge, like the complicated transition of coming from somewhere else, the vulnerability of being a refugee, and the expectation of ongoing gratitude.
From here, Ramadan takes his readers back to his childhood in Damascus, Syria, his young adulthood in Cairo, Egypt and eventually to Vancouver, Canada. Everywhere, Danny finds and creates family, community and queer safe places. His personality shines through in his writing. From time to time, he effectively breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to readers.
Thank you, Danny, for taking that leap of faith and trusting readers. Yours is a story I’m grateful to have read, learned from and will never forget. Be well.
March 27, 2024
I am sobbing.
And hopefully not like a white woman on a plane.
While there was certainly trauma in this story, what I'm walking away with is the joy that radiated throughout. The joy of found families and created community. The joy of resilience. The joy of celebrating home. The joy of being loved.
I also really appreciated the challenge to the reader at the start. The importance of not dividing the world into purely good and bad, of understanding that both trauma and happiness can be found and experienced in the same places, and of acknowledging that changing your geography doesn't magically make everything better.
In both the story itself and the art of the story-telling, this worked its way into my soul and will stay with me for a long time.
And hopefully not like a white woman on a plane.
While there was certainly trauma in this story, what I'm walking away with is the joy that radiated throughout. The joy of found families and created community. The joy of resilience. The joy of celebrating home. The joy of being loved.
I also really appreciated the challenge to the reader at the start. The importance of not dividing the world into purely good and bad, of understanding that both trauma and happiness can be found and experienced in the same places, and of acknowledging that changing your geography doesn't magically make everything better.
In both the story itself and the art of the story-telling, this worked its way into my soul and will stay with me for a long time.
June 25, 2024
“Happiness, I have learned, fades. It's a chemical reaction that floods your brain with an instant gratification. Serotonin rarely lingers. Joy, on the other hand, is an immortal feeling.”
really really special, not bc of it's depiction of a resilient queer experience in the modern middle east (persecution, political upheaval, a whole lot of trauma), but bc of the queer joy that Danny finds despite all of the hardships in each chapter of his life
🥹
really really special, not bc of it's depiction of a resilient queer experience in the modern middle east (persecution, political upheaval, a whole lot of trauma), but bc of the queer joy that Danny finds despite all of the hardships in each chapter of his life
🥹
May 16, 2024
Received from NetGalley, thanks!
This was a phenomenal read. I am yet again blown away by Danny Ramadan's writing.
I love how this book starts, with Ramadan asking for the reader's trust; asking for us to trust that what he's telling us is his story, because that is really what a memoir is all about. I also loved that the intro/first chapter (I think I got a slightly bad ARC and chapters weren't really showing up) is extremely critical of white saviourism and racism within the literary world (and in the world in general).
The memoir follows Ramadan from his childhood in Damascus, with a mentally ill mother and an absent father, his move to Egypt for work, the Arab Spring and how that impacted on him, as a queer man on a temporary visa in Egypt. Then we are back in Damascus, finding the places that it is safe to be himself, until he is arrested by the Syrian police, which prompts his flee to Lebanon, and then to Canada.
What I really appreciated about this memoir is that Ramadan gives us exactly as much of himself as he can. I'm not sure that I've ever read a memoir that clearly lays out the author's boundaries like that; this is as much as I'm telling you and I'm not telling you more. I think there is this expectation of both authors and readers, when it comes to a memoir, that you're going to be giving/getting absolutely every single detail of that life. But really, what would reading about these incredibly traumatic events add to the story? It would just be trauma porn, and no one should be expected to give that of themselves if they don't feel safe doing so.
I also enjoyed that Ramadan broke the fourth wall to speak directly to the reader, to explain his choices at certain parts of the book; at the beginning when he's talking about trust, when he's describing his time in prison, when he first arrives in Canada. I appreciated his honesty and criticism of the process of coming to Canada; how sponsors are not adequately prepared, nor are the refugees, in terms of what to expect and how difficult it can be. I have read a couple of other memoirs by Syrian refugees, and they both ended in a very "I'm in Canada now and my life is 1000x better!" way, which I'm sure is accurate for some, but certainly not all, refugees.
I absolutely devoured this memoir and I highly recommend it. I can't wait to go back and read Ramadan's other books now (even the kids ones!).
This was a phenomenal read. I am yet again blown away by Danny Ramadan's writing.
I love how this book starts, with Ramadan asking for the reader's trust; asking for us to trust that what he's telling us is his story, because that is really what a memoir is all about. I also loved that the intro/first chapter (I think I got a slightly bad ARC and chapters weren't really showing up) is extremely critical of white saviourism and racism within the literary world (and in the world in general).
The memoir follows Ramadan from his childhood in Damascus, with a mentally ill mother and an absent father, his move to Egypt for work, the Arab Spring and how that impacted on him, as a queer man on a temporary visa in Egypt. Then we are back in Damascus, finding the places that it is safe to be himself, until he is arrested by the Syrian police, which prompts his flee to Lebanon, and then to Canada.
What I really appreciated about this memoir is that Ramadan gives us exactly as much of himself as he can. I'm not sure that I've ever read a memoir that clearly lays out the author's boundaries like that; this is as much as I'm telling you and I'm not telling you more. I think there is this expectation of both authors and readers, when it comes to a memoir, that you're going to be giving/getting absolutely every single detail of that life. But really, what would reading about these incredibly traumatic events add to the story? It would just be trauma porn, and no one should be expected to give that of themselves if they don't feel safe doing so.
I also enjoyed that Ramadan broke the fourth wall to speak directly to the reader, to explain his choices at certain parts of the book; at the beginning when he's talking about trust, when he's describing his time in prison, when he first arrives in Canada. I appreciated his honesty and criticism of the process of coming to Canada; how sponsors are not adequately prepared, nor are the refugees, in terms of what to expect and how difficult it can be. I have read a couple of other memoirs by Syrian refugees, and they both ended in a very "I'm in Canada now and my life is 1000x better!" way, which I'm sure is accurate for some, but certainly not all, refugees.
I absolutely devoured this memoir and I highly recommend it. I can't wait to go back and read Ramadan's other books now (even the kids ones!).
June 16, 2024
Really really good. One of the best memoirs I've read.
June 13, 2024
Danny Ramadan starts and ends his memoir asking his reader to receive and hold his words with care, since he's getting personal in ways that are difficult for him. That rawness and vulnerability really came through, not only in the way he shares painful memories, but in the way he discusses his joy, criticisms, disappointment, love, and more. This was just so beautiful. I loved how often Danny broke the fourth wall in explaining why he's choosing to withhold information in some parts, why he chose to focus on different elements in others, and how difficult the process of writing this was. This really moved me!
June 9, 2024
Crooked Teeth is a beautifully written memoir that challenges us to move beyond simple binaries of 'good and bad', as we get a glimpse of what it means to grow up gay in Syria. Danny draws us in with an intimate portrayal of a life that weaves between horrific moments of abuse and violence across the Middle East and Canada, interspersed with stories of unconditional love and acceptance from chosen family. I'm grateful to have a window into the warmth and strength of an underground LGBTQ community in Damascus. A must-read book for all Canadians!
July 10, 2024
“I promised you to trust you with my stories, and you promised to trust me in my telling.” And with that, not only does Danny Ramadan wins my trust, but also my heart.
I have a special love for memoirs due to the generosity of its authors to pour their lives into the pages of a book. This memoir was so raw, yet so beautiful because of his writing. Through his words, Ramadan narrates most of his life while transporting us to Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and Canada. His book explores his own identity, spanning Syrian, son, middle eastern, queer, lover, journalist, refugee, poet, husband and writer. A must read if you are curious about how all these identities can coexist in the body of such a talented person.
I have a special love for memoirs due to the generosity of its authors to pour their lives into the pages of a book. This memoir was so raw, yet so beautiful because of his writing. Through his words, Ramadan narrates most of his life while transporting us to Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and Canada. His book explores his own identity, spanning Syrian, son, middle eastern, queer, lover, journalist, refugee, poet, husband and writer. A must read if you are curious about how all these identities can coexist in the body of such a talented person.
May 30, 2024
Crooked Teeth: A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir was an amazing read! I had a hard time putting it down, always wanting to come back to it, continue reading. Throughout the read, I found myself reflecting, contemplating on Danny Ramadan's experiences and journey, which he brought to life with beautiful, evocative language. The memoir will remain with me for a long time to come.
July 29, 2024
This was the most well written memoir I have ever read! I know for a fact that I have never read an autobiography so quickly in my life. I was just captivated the whole time, which sounds terrible given that these traumas happened to a real person. But it’s not the story that captivated me as much as the story telling. Danny is honest with us from the start that memories can’t always be trusted and I absolutely loved that. There’s no hiding that he’s trying to tell us his story while also making it intriguing. We all add in a little flare to tell a good story and he does just that, but that made me enjoy this book even more!
June 19, 2024
All I can really say about this book is wow.
Be right back while I go and buy a copy of The Clothesline Swing for my bookshelf.
This one had me hooked from the prologue. Danny Ramadan, thank you so much for trusting us with this memoir.
Be right back while I go and buy a copy of The Clothesline Swing for my bookshelf.
This one had me hooked from the prologue. Danny Ramadan, thank you so much for trusting us with this memoir.
July 26, 2024
Absolutely loved Crooked Teeth! So well written, and such a captivating and interesting telling of Danny’s experiences. Total page turner, I couldn’t put it down. I haven’t read a book that fast in a long time. I will 1000% be reading Danny’s fiction novels next.
June 15, 2024
Wow! Thank you, once again, Danny Ramadan.
One of the best books I've read this year.
One of the best books I've read this year.
July 1, 2024
Lot’s to learn in this book.
Read
July 30, 2024Excellent read. Fascinating account of his journey. Your stories are compatible with my world view and powerful enough to change it.
August 4, 2024
Gripping. Stunning.
June 27, 2024
Following Danny as he navigates The intersection of the various aspects of his identify is a really interesting aspect of this book. I was part of a private sponsor group during the refugee crisis in Syria and it was really enlightening to hear Danny’s perspective on the experience and the program. I enjoyed his narrative voice and his insights. I’m glad he decided to share his story.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews