Temporary People

In the United Arab Emirates, foreign nationals are shipped in to construct towering monuments that punctuate the skylines of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. They work without the rights of citizenship and endure miserable living conditions. The humanitarian crisis of the "guest workers" of the Gulf is finally addressed in this stunning debut which delves into their histories, struggles, and triumphs. .

Deepak Unnikrishnan is a writer from Abu Dhabi and a resident of the States, who has lived in Teaneck, New Jersey, Brooklyn, New York and Chicago, Illinois. He has studied and taught at the Art Institute of Chicago and presently teaches at New York University Abu Dhabi. Temporary People, his first book, was the inaugural winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing.