Oliver Basciano – författare

A singular, compassionate history of humanity, told through the lens of a misunderstood disease.A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR'Shocking, moving and sensitive.' TLS'Uplifting.' THE TIMES'Fascinating.' SPECTATOR'Remarkable.' LITERARY REVIEW'Gripping.' NATUREWINNER OF THE 2023 RSL GILES ST AUBYN AWARDThe story of leprosy is the story of humanity.It is a story of isolation and exclusion, of resilience and resistance, one which has permeated global cultures in myriad ways for thousands of years, dividing the world into the 'clean' and the 'unclean'.Oliver Basciano's journey to demystify leprosy takes him from the Romanian border, the hinterlands of Brazil and the fringes of Siberia to the Japanese archipelago, Robben Island and the northern provinces of Mozambique. It reveals the image of medieval leprosy to be a nineteenth-century myth invented to justify gross mistreatment of patients, a blueprint used for further state-sanctioned stigma: colonialism and racism, religious and economic exploitation.Basciano meets those living with leprosy today, those exiled to various leprosaria around the world and forced to find homes away from home; he hears stories of community and perseverance in the face of grave circumstances, of lives bound to each other through shared experience and a refusal to be cast aside.A work of outstanding empathy, Outcast shines new light on the human condition, asking: does a society's sense of itself always rely on ostracisation?'Remarkable . . . grippingly and humanely recounted.'PHILIPPE SANDS'It is impossible not to be moved by the lives unfolding in these pages, impossible not to be left transformed and enlightened. 'LEILA ABOULELA

**A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR**Encountering the last leprosarium in Europe and remote villages in Mozambique, moving through Siberian settlements and Brazil's hinterlands, Outcast travels the margins of society and charts the history of a misunderstood disease. In doing so, it shines new light on the human condition, asking: does our sense of self always rely on the ostracisation of another?'Shocking, moving and sensitive.' TLS'Uplifting.' THE TIMES'Fascinating.' SPECTATOR'Remarkable.' LITERARY REVIEW'Gripping.' NATURE'Remarkable . . . grippingly and humanely recounted.'PHILIPPE SANDS'It is impossible not to be moved by the lives unfolding in these pages, impossible not to be left transformed and enlightened. 'LEILA ABOULELAWINNER OF THE 2023 RSL GILES ST AUBYN AWARD

The story of how one misunderstood disease became the global blueprint for stigma and ostracizationOutcast: A History of Leprosy, Humanity and the Modern World reveals leprosy as the world's foundational stigma, underlying the colonialism, exclusion, and exploitation that has shaped contemporary life. After hearing leprosy being used as an anti-immigration dog whistle, Oliver Basciano began a journey into the past, uncovering how this ancient disease has been weaponized, used to justify forced exile and social ostracism around the world. Traveling from the last leprosarium in Europe to remote villages in Mozambique, from Siberian settlements to Brazil's hinterlands, Basciano builds a history that centers the voices of patients and those forced into the colony system. Along the way, he finds communities formed in exile, patient activism, and the persistent human capacity for joy.In this pulsating, compassionate book, the trope of medieval suffering is transformed into a bitingly relevant study of hope and solidarity.