GUANTANAMO DIARY

This is the first and only memoir by a Guantánamo detainee while still inside the prison. It is the authoritative firsthand account of one of the most notorious episodes in modern American history. And it is a story of survival.

Mohamedou Ould Slahi began writing his memoir in 2005 by hand in English, a language he mastered from interacting with his guards. As one of only two "Special Projects" personally approved by Donald Rumsfeld, he endured months of extreme isolation, sensory deprivation, and sexual assault by female interrogators. Years passed, and in 2007 it was determined by the FBI, the CIA and military intelligence that he could not be linked to any acts of terrorism. He was an innocent man.

But he remains in Guantánamo, most are convinced, because of this very story. Despite years of unimaginable injustice—the same injustice that has led to hundreds of instances of attempted suicide among the other detainees--Slahi remains forgiving, rational and uplifting. His stated goal, and his accomplishment, is "to be as fair as possible, to the U.S. Government, to my brothers, and to myself."

In its unvarnished state, THE GUANTÁNAMO MEMOIRS serves as historical evidence of what the United States has done to a group of men who, like Slahi, may not have ever committed acts of terrorism. But writer Larry Siems, who directs the Freedom to Write and International Programs at PEN American Center, has been granted permission by Slahi to shape this memoir into something bigger, a 60-70,000 word book for readers across the spectrum of interests, politics, and allegiances: a story of human perseverance stretched to the ultimate limits but never broken.

As he's proven with his ground-breaking Slate series in which he selected and edited three sections, Siems has a finely-tuned ear for the most poignant and riveting aspects of Slahi's story. In Siems's hands, THE GUANTÁNAMO MEMOIRS will have the breathless pacing of Blaine Harden's ESCAPE FROM CAMP 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West, but, like Ishmael Beah's A LONG WAY GONE: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier or Terry Anderson's DEN OF LIONS, still be the first-person account of someone who has endured unimaginable pain and torture. The uniqueness of this project has already sparked interest at 60 Minutes, and the popularity of the Slate series alongside the news about the most recent hunger strike in the prison proves that the conversation about Guantánamo is more heated than ever. Slahi's lawyers are optimistic that he will be released at the end of the year.