It’s been almost a year since I’ve updated you about my book, A Greek Tragedy, One Day, A Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis. I have some wonderful news to share: It’s coming out in paperback on April 28, 2026, and has also been nominated for several book awards! More on all that in a minute.

First, I want to explain why you’re receiving this note via Substack. Using Gmail was too clunky, so I moved the operation to the Substack platform, which makes it much easier to send out a newsletter. I plan to send out an occasional missive, with news about the book and related thoughts on migration and human rights issues. I hope you will want to join me and continue to receive my newsletter. If so, no action is required.

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Now, back to the book. I am very happy to share the news that A Greek Tragedy has been named a finalist for the PEN/Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. I’m looking forward to attending the awards ceremony in New York City on March 31. I am equally thrilled to be a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes for Current Interest. The winner will be announced on April 17 at the fabulous Los Angeles Times Book Festival, where I’ll also be speaking and selling books.

Both of these nominations are a huge honor. And I hope that with the paperback release on April 28, the recognition will help A Greek Tragedy reach new audiences. The book is about a tragic refugee shipwreck in 2015, but the stories of the survivors and the people who tried to help them are achingly relevant to what’s happening here, under Trump, and his brutal campaign to dehumanize and expel migrants.

Some of the relevance is positive, at least regarding how communities can rise up when governments fail. The other day, I was messaging with Efi Latsoudi, one of the Greek activists at the center of my book, talking about how the creative actions of communities in Minneapolis to deliver food to immigrants trapped in their homes reminded me of how Greeks on Lesvos created soup kitchens, sheltered rescued refugee children in their laps until their parents could be found, and otherwise tried to help out in the crisis.

As Gary Isaac Wolf wrote in his wonderful essay about A Greek Tragedy in The Battleground:

Some of the book’s most fascinating pages trace the development of the improvised systems that emerged during the months of crisis: blankets waved on a cliff to signal boats below; a mobile morgue for extra bodies; a pile of donated and sorted clothing waiting for people certain to need it. It was not just individual gestures but a complex amalgam of tools, methods, and relationships that saved so many lives.

As Trump continues to take aim at our democracy, we can learn from Lesvos in 2015, and Minneapolis in 2026, about the power of community-based improvised systems to push back.

I will be following these and other stories in this newsletter and elsewhere in the months to come. And sharing updates about A Greek Tragedy as I engage with more people about the book. More updates, including event information, will also be available on my website, which I recently redesigned: www.jeannecarstensen.net

Thank you for your support. It means so much.