A novel about the sea, language, love, and poetry that never die, but come and go, sometimes across decades or even centuries.

The book features two parallel storylines. The first follows a Tatar journalist and poet from early 20th-century Kazan in pre-revolutionary Russia, who lives only through his poetry devoted to his beloved and a fairytale-like Blue Sea to which she is about to leave forever. The second follows a young lawyer from 2000s Moscow who dreams of becoming an attorney but discovers a new purpose in Muynak, the former port of the Aral Sea. The two protagonists are connected by one man's beloved and the other's grandmother, as well as by poetry and the sea.

A novel about a weak person who is capable of strong deeds and of choosing his own path.

Volume: 384 pages

Genre: contemporary novel, postcolonial novel, travel novel, family saga

References: My Strange Thoughts by Orhan Pamuk, Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ulan Dalai by Natalya Ilishkina

Leyla's Travels by Daniya Jansi tells a tragic story of Palestine and South Africa through the lense of a global nomad of an Arab-Russian origin, written as an ommage to Gulliver's travels.

Leyla used to be an expat with a spectacular CV and a glorious life. But this becomes a distant memory when she finds herself in the Dr Natanson's hospital, hidden in the middle of a Palestinian desert.

No one around has heard about Holocaust or Terroristic acts in France. Here colonialism and racism are the mainstream opposed by a radical movement of globalists. Its members want to have Leyla on their side and to use her "memories" of the other world for their purposes. However, Leyla does not want to support violence and looks for inner peace, including from the torturing white dreams reminding her that she is a traveller stuck between two worlds.

Volume: 384 pages

Genre: contemporary novel

References: White noise by Don DeLillo, The face of another by Kobo Abe, Gulliver's travels by Jonathan Swift.

Daniya Jansi was born in 1985 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, grew up in Kazan, Russia, and has lived and worked in Dubai, Saint Petersburg, Samarkand, and Washington, D.C. She has traveled to 40 countries and currently is based in Moscow.

Daniya completed the Oxford University Creative Writing Summer School and she is a resident of the Peredelkino Creative House. Her short stories have appeared on the longlists and shortlists of the Dias Valeev, Fazil Iskander, and FICTION35 prizes. She is the author of two novels, Leyla’s Travels and DRUZHBA, both published by Inspiria/EKSMO in Russia.

By profession she is a PR consultant and has worked for over 15 years across 40+ markets with multinational companies, including Etihad Airways, flydubai, and Reebok. She currently advises on corporate and personal branding (Daniya's LinkedIn).