Joakim Zander was born in Stockholm, has lived in Syria and Israel, and graduated from high school in the United States. He earned a PhD in law from Maastricht University in the Netherlands and has worked as a lawyer for the European Union in Brussels and Helsinki. His most recent novel, published this year, is The Believer Zander lives and works in southern Sweden.

Students Not Stats

He’s enjoyed teaching the children of Middle Eastern refugees for three years in Sweden, and just about the only things they don’t talk about are radicalization and religion.