In the book One Thousand and One Nights. Scheherazade has to tell stories in order to survive. She tells such interesting and compelling stories that King Schehrayar can't help but let her live one more night and then another and then another. After a thousand and one nights, he gets attached and forgets his murderous desire. By salvaging her own life with stories, Scheherazade in turn liberates Schehrayar's heart from its darkness. As war and terrorism rages, so grows the antagonism between the Middle East and the West. Don't Shoot!...I have another story to tell you is the personal journey of an Iraqi woman who walks the tightrope between East and West. The book is a funny and often moving voyage of uncovering, discovering and discarding of identity. It is a book understanding the past, and telling new stories in order to embrace the future. Through these tales of transformation the book encourages the reader to grow attached and come to understand the Middle East's many contradictions.

Elen Ghulam is an Iraqi living in Canada. She is a computer programmer, a writer, a political activist, a flamenco dancer and a painter. You can visit her blog at www.ihath.com. She lives with her husband and three children in Vancouver BC.