A queer Syrian refugee reckons with a life spent out of place.

“Writing this memoir is a betrayal.” So begins this electrifying personal account from Danny Ramadan, a celebrated novelist who has long enjoyed the shield his fiction provides. Now, to tell the story of his life, he must revisit dark corners of his past he’d rather forget and unearth memories of a city he can no longer return to.

Starting with his family’s humble beginnings in Damascus, he takes readers on an epic, border-crossing journey: to the city’s underground network of queer safe homes; to a clandestine party at a secluded villa in Cairo; through Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East, a reckless hoax that threatens the safety of Syria’s LGBTQ+ community, and a traumatic six-week imprisonment; to beaches and sunsets with friends in Beirut; to an arrival in Vancouver that’s not as smooth as it promised to be; and ultimately to a life of hard-won comfort and love.

What emerges is a powerful refutation of the oversimplified refugee narrative—a book that holds space for joy alongside sorrow, for nuance and complicated ambivalences. Written with fearless intimacy, Crooked Teeth is a singular achievement in which a master storyteller learns that his greatest story is his own.

DANNY RAMADAN is an award-winning Syrian-Canadian author, activist, and public speaker. His work as an activist has helped provide a safe passage to dozens of Syrian LGBTQ+ refugees to Canada. He is the author of two novels for adults, The Clothesline Swing and The Foghorn Echoes, and a forthcoming memoir, Crooked Teeth. Danny lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Danny Ramadan's profile page

“I take my hat off to Danny Ramadan and his brilliant muses. This is a mesmerizing story of growing up gay in a Muslim Syrian family, of the challenges and joys of finding and creating loving communities, and the miracle not just of physical survival but of an effervescent celebration of the human heart. Once I began reading, I couldn’t stop until the final page. Countless others will be thankful for this raw, idiosyncratic, utterly compelling account of Danny’s long journey home.”
—Lawrence Hill, author of The Illegal

“In Crooked Teeth, the reader becomes not just a confidante but a trusted companion in Danny Ramadan’s story. Harrowing yet joyous, bawdy and kind and brilliant, this memoir sings, parties, and grieves in a way that will make you want to hug it and, yes, dance with it.”
—Ann-Marie MacDonald, author of Fayne

“Ramadan reminds us why memoir is so important. This is an engrossing account of one queer man’s journey through a life filled with danger, yes, but also great joy. A beautiful read that adds nuance to the stories of so many refugees.”
—Garrard Conley, author of Boy Erased

“Danny Ramadan’s vigorous prose is poised in that enchanted place between master storytelling and testimonial. Written with the skill of a fiction writer, Crooked Teeth is sweeping and intimate, a memoir of bloody revolution and bear hugs. Danny Ramadan asks if he can trust us with his story. Discover what trust means. Read this book.”
—Kim Echlin, author of Speak, Silence
“Crooked Teeth is a tender invitation into the life and mind of one of Canada’s favourite and most acclaimed authors. Here is a memoir that coaxes as it resists, all through Ramadan’s familiar, luscious, and generative literary voice. First-time readers will no doubt be inspired by his bravery, nimble storytelling, and deft application of craft. Fans of his other work will recognize this book as the homecoming it truly is.”
—Jenny Heijun Wills, author of Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related.