The Shatila camp was originally set up for 3,000 Palestinian refugees in 1949. In 1982 it made sad international headlines with the Shatila massacre, when between 800 and 3500 refugees (official figure not known) were killed. It now houses between 20,000 to 40,000 refugees, mainly from Syria. Without official status in Lebanon these inhabitants are left with no right to work and few means of sending their children to school. Furthermore, the camp is controlled by gangs, drugs and guns. The police do not enter it. With the aim of crossing borders through creativity, ten writers living in the camp have been commissioned by Peirene to create a piece of collaborative literature to tell us the story of life in Shatila today. Straight from their pens this book seeks to give a voice to those trapped in an unthinkable situation.