” I receive many emails from formerly communist countries. Many people identify with my story, with the suppression of women. My books sell very well in these countries and the movie Desert Flower was very successful, too. Ich believe that many people here identify with my story because they have been brutally suppressed by their governments and the communist system for decades. They know what suppression really means. This is why travelling to these countries is important to me. I immediately agreed when I was invited by my Slovak publisher to attend the book fair in Bratislava. After all, I sold more than 50.000 copies of Desert Flower and more than 100.000 movie tickets in this small country.
During my visit, I had many encounters with men and women whose honest support and kindness touched me deeply” – Waris Dirie said after her visit to Bratislava last week.
In the past week, Waris Dirie travelled to Bratislava, where she promoted her book Desert Flower, presebted the work of the Waris Dirie Foundation and raised awareness on her fight against female genital mutilation.
After a well-received press conference at the Carlton Hotel in Central Bratislava, Waris Dirie was interviewed by numerous Slovak magazines and newspapers. The executive director of the publishing house IKAR Valeria Malíková presented Waris Dirie with a 5.000 € donation to support the work of the Waris Dire Foundation.
Waris Dirie was also presented with a painting by the Slovak artist Martin Augustin.
Waris Dirie completed an exclusive fashion shoot featuring young designers from Slovakia for the magazine Madame Eva and appeared on the well known Slovak TV Show Guardian Angels. On Saturday evening, Waris Dirie was a special guest on the final of the TV show “Moja naj kniha”, which discusses and awards the most popular books in Slovakia.
In between her many interviews and commitments, Waris Dirie took some time to meet her fans during two book signings at the bookstore Panta Rhei and at the Bratislava book fair. Both signings attracted several hundreds of fans and left Waris signing books for more than two hours.
