Hi all - all four hundred and fifty of you - I really should start by wishing you well, wherever you are in the world. It's not as if this planet didn't already have enough challenges, and this pandemic has been another grim addition to the inbox. So I hope that you are staying safe, and finding joy wherever you can.

As you will know, I have now pretty much finished writing "How To Avoid Detection"; there will be a few edits here or there, but the work is substantially done. You can never be sure how these projects will turn out, but I think that a good sign is that I was emotionally exhausted when I handed in both drafts. I had to reach into parts of my life that I have hardly talked about with anyone, if at all. It was very difficult because it took me back to periods of isolation that I would much rather forget. What struck me, writing it, was how much of a solitary journey it was. Perhaps I became so accustomed to solitude at an early age that it now feels like my natural state. Or maybe that's who I always was, like a child who grows up next to the ocean and dreams of nothing else but setting off to an empty horizon. 

Whatever the case, I think it is a path to which I am well suited. What struck me in writing the book was just how often I broke away from groups or places which brought so much comfort to others. It makes sense that I have ended up in Berlin, a city full of fellow stowaways. I have found so much warmth and community here, perhaps because so many of us instinctively and profoundly understand each other.

As for the book itself, I wrote it in the second person present - e.g., "You arrive at school, desperate to make an impression" - because that felt like the most immersive technique for the reader. I experimented with a couple of different voices, but this felt like the one where the stories not only came most quickly but where I think the reader might best be able to see things through my eyes, as if they were there themselves. I hope it works for you.

Last but not least, I would just like to give you all a huge thankyou for responding to this fundraising campaign with the enthusiasm that you did. To be honest, I was stunned. I didn't expect people to be so interested in what I had to say. I was blown away by your generosity and the only way I felt I could repay that was giving you the most honest book I could. And it's all in there I think - pride, joy, sadness, regret. I couldn't have written it without the freedom that your gifts gave me, and so I will always be grateful for that. 

Anyway, I'll leave it there. I will drop you the odd update now and then, but in the meantime please take care of yourselves, your friends and family. Life's too short not to.

Very best wishes,

Musa