“My life can’t just be about surviving this journey…”

Thirteen-year-old Samim is a loyal friend, a gifted chess player – and a refugee.

Even after he makes the long, dangerous journey from Afghanistan to the UK, his safety isn’t guaranteed. Can Samim convince the authorities to let him stay?

My Name is Samim is a heartbreaking yet hopeful story of courage, resilience and friendship. Highlighting the experiences of young refugees and asylum-seekers, readers will empathise with Samim as he strives for a safe home and a better future.

Fidan Meikle is a stunning new voice in middle-grade fiction. Her wry, heartfelt and immersive writing will draw readers into Samim’s world. Read on to discover the story behind the book, or download a pdf extract.

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Dear readers,

The idea for this book began with a story I came across about a young Afghan refugee and his brother, who made a dangerous journey to the UK in search of safety. It stayed with me – not only because of the danger they faced, but because of what happened along the way. The boy lost his brother, his only remaining family during the Channel crossing. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. What does that kind of grief feel like for a child? How do you find the strength to keep going after something like that? What does hope even look like when you’ve lost everything and everyone?

That story planted the seed for Samim’s voice. But I didn’t want to write just about loss, I wanted to write about strength – about the quiet kind of courage young people show when they’re forced to grow up too fast, in impossible situations.

Samim’s story is inspired by real experiences – stories I’ve come across through research, study, and sometimes simply listening. With a background in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, with Iran and Afghanistan as my countries of speciality, I already had a strong foundation in the history, culture, and political context. But even so, the research ended up taking longer than the writing itself. I read memoirs by refugees who had made similar journeys, watched interviews with young people speaking in their own words about what they’d been through, and pored over reports on displacement, asylum policies, and life in refugee camps. More than anything, I wanted to get it right – not just the facts, but the feeling, the emotional heart of the story.

A crucial part of my research was working with Afghan photojournalist Aryan Musleh, whose connections with refugees provided powerful insights that shaped the book.

When I finally finished writing, my eight-year-old looked up at me with a question her teacher had asked in class: “What’s the one thing your book teaches, Mummy?”

After a moment of thought, I realised the answer was simple: “If it must be one thing, then I hope it teaches kindness.”

Fidan Meikle, 2025

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