The Fire bookcover

The Fire

Voices of a Generation in Iran, Ukraine, & Afghanistan

Cecilia Sala 

(Author)

Oonagh Stransky 

(Translated by)

This title will be released on:

Nov 18, 2025

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Description

A powerful, unflinching portrait of a generation fighting for change in Iran, Afghanistan, and Ukraine 

In The Fire, acclaimed journalist Cecilia Sala takes readers on a gripping journey through some of the world’s most volatile regions, from Eastern Europe to the Middle East. Through the eyes of young people like Kateryna, a Ukrainian soldier; Assim, an Iranian student at the forefront of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests; Nabila, a Muslim kickboxing champion and lesbian; and Zarifa, a political activist in Afghanistan, Sala offers an intimate portrayal of lives caught amidst turmoil and fighting for a better life.

By immersing herself in their worlds—in their daily lives and political battles—Sala crafts a poignant narrative that captures the human dimension of some of the world’s most intense conflicts. The Fire is a testament to the courage and hunger for freedom of a generation at the forefront of global change.

Product Details

PublisherEuropa Editions
Publish DateNovember 18, 2025
Pages208
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconDigital (delivered electronically)
EAN/UPC9798889661511

About the Author

Cecilia Sala is a journalist, war correspondent, and podcaster. Her reporting has appeared in L’Espresso, Vanity Fair, and Wired. She has covered crises in Venezuela, protests in Chile, Iran, the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in August 2021, and the war in Ukraine. On December 19, 2024, she was arrested in Tehran by the Iranian regime and held in solitary confinement in Evin Prison, where she remained for three weeks before being released. Soon after been freed, she returned to reporting from the field, continuing to cover global conflicts and political upheavals.
Oonagh Stransky has been a translator of Italian literature for over twenty years. Some of the writers whose work she has brought into English include Pier Paolo Pasolini, Carlo Lucarelli, Giuseppe Pontiggia, and Roberto Saviano. Stransky studied Italian at Middlebury Language Schools, received her B.A. in Comparative Literature from Mills College and UC Berkeley in 1989, and her M.A. in Italian from Columbia University in 2002. She currently lives in Italy. Her translation of Domenico Starnone’s The House on Via Gemito was shortlisted for the Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize, and for the American Literary Translators Association 2024 Italian Prose in Translation Award.

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