Ahmed Ismail Yusuf

The Lion's Binding Oath will be one of the first (if not the first) collections of stories published in English by a Somali writer and set entirely in Somalia.

Ahmed Ismail Yusuf is strongly connected to the Somali diaspora living throughout the United States and Canada. Somalis in the United States and Canada are a strongly unified group. They tend to live in large clusters in major cities (Toronto, Minneapolis, San Diego, Seattle, and Portland, Maine are just a few places with high concentrations of Somali immigrants). They also tend to value education and literacy. With a strong love of poetry and literature, this book should be a strong selling points for those communities.

Well-known Somalis such as the model Iman or the rap artist K'Naan have been spreading some knowledge and love for Somalia in recent years.

This book provides a striking counterpoint to mass media images that suggests Muslims from Somalia fit terrorist profiles. It humanizes Somali culture, religion, and people.