Service95 Book Club: Nadia Murad in Conversation

Powerful and deeply inspiring, I Choose My Beginning is the story of an extraordinary woman reclaiming her humanity, and showing that survival is not the end of the story, but the beginning.

In 2014, Nadia Murad was living in northern Iraq when her world was shattered. Fighters from the so-called Islamic State attacked her village, massacring hundreds – including her mother and six of her brothers – and forcing her, along with thousands of Yazidi women and girls, into ISIS’s system of sexual slavery.

Her life since then has been split in two. In one, she is a global symbol of courage: a survivor and activist who has stood before world leaders to demand justice. In the other, she is a woman learning how to be a friend, a student, a wife – a woman rediscovering ordinary joy.

In I Choose My Beginning: A Story of Activism and Courage, Murad brings these two selves together. With honesty and grace, she transforms the pain of her past into a life defined not by what was done to her, but by strength, perseverance and the freedom to choose happiness. From reshaping international law to building a life filled with friendship and love, Murad carries the memory of those she lost and those who survived. Their presence reminds her – and all of us – that she has always been more than a victim.

Nadia Murad is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has fundamentally changed how the world responds to conflict-related sexual violence – pushing governments, the United Nations and international institutions to deliver justice, reparations and accountability for survivors.

A survivor of the Yazidi genocide and ISIS captivity, she turned her experience into a global movement, driving the creation of landmark international mechanisms and holding world leaders to account. She is the Founder of Nadia’s Initiative and the first United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking.

Founded by Dua Lipa, the Service95 Book Club is a space to enjoy all things literary, including Dua’s hand-picked Monthly Reads and her exclusive author interviews, plus new book trends, recommendations from the Service95 team and more ways for you to read the world differently.