Daylight Forever

Daylight Forever is a true story of a high-school student from war-torn, postrevolutionary Iran who is now a successful businesswoman in the United States. It is a story of an immigrant to the United States who, as a young girl, experienced the Islamic Revolution of 1978, the persecution of Baha'is after the revolution and repeated bombing attacks of Tehran, her hometown, during the 8-year-long IranIraq war. The story chronicles a 15-year-old girl's dangerous journey across the Iran-Pakistan border without her parents and her petition for asylum from the United Nations. Her final destination is the United States where she ultimately reunites family and finds safety and opportunity in a country she has called home for three decades.

"You can't escape your destiny", her father always said. As a young Baha'i girl growing up during the Islamic revolution of 1979 experiencing 8 years of Iran-Iraq war, Mahvash lived in daily terror of religious persecution and bombing raids. With her family threatened and the schools shut down, Mahvash took destiny into her own hands. She escaped under a cover of darkness on a solo trek across the border. This courageous and hopeful memoir is a portrait of a childhood cut short, a young woman's journey to flee oppression, and the story of a refugee who learns what it means to come home. Daylight Forever shares an immigrant's struggle for freedom, opportunity, and belonging and examines the tapestry of personal differences which, through tears and determination, have been woven into our shared human destiny. Dayligth Forever is both stunning and heartbreaking. Mahvash brilliantly invites the reader into her personal journey as a refugee and allows you to experience her life through the eyes of a young girl. This memoir was gripping, visceral, and sacred work. Not only does this book need to be a required reading, it deserves a prize for the bravery that it represents in honor of every refugee both present and past. For Women Who Roar Founder, Megan Febuary

Dr. Mahvash Khajavi-Harvey is a dentist in private practice in Seattle and a part time affiliated faculty at the university of Washington school of dentistry. A firm believer in the power of community—both far and wide—she has volunteered dentistry services overseas in third-world communities and also provides free dental care in Seattle at local homeless clinics every year. Dr. Harvey is an outspoken advocate of human rights issues and supports numerous nonprofits including: the Mona Foundation, the Tahirih Justice Center and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. For several years, she served on the board of "Journey with an Afghan School," a non-profit NGO", which was founded post 9/11 to build schools for girls in Afghanistan.