Baghdad to Brooklyn — a memoir by Laith Yousif
Baghdad to Brooklyn
An Ordinary Journey Through Extraordinary Times
I left Baghdad to get away from buildings getting blown up. I moved to New York. My first job was in the World Trade Center. Then 9/11 happened.
Get It Kirkus Reviews Read the review →A boy grows up in Al-Dora, in a house his father built by working for free. A young engineer leaves Iraq in 1998 with a borrowed $700 and a passport someone else is holding. A new New Yorker walks into the World Trade Center on March 26, 2001. Baghdad to Brooklyn is the story of what happened next, and the ten years of waiting that followed.
Three cities, one story
The bookFamily, war, sanctions, and a childhood spent dreaming of somewhere else.
Enter Baghdad → Dubai 1998–2001The first exit. A stolen passport, a shared taxi to Al-Ain, and the slow assembly of a life from nothing.
Enter Dubai → New York 2001–presentThe Twin Towers, September 11, ten years of asylum limbo, and a citizenship that arrived one document at a time.
Enter New York →Readings, talks & press
ContactAvailable for readings, panels, podcasts, and interviews — especially around the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2026. I also do stand-up about all of this, so I promise I'm a good listen.
- Press contact
- Dina@LaithYousif.com
As seen in Time UN Foundation Dissent ABC News Iraq: The Wind of Hope Full coverage →