Press Kit

ATLANTA, GA –Author Tayeb R. Damerji announces the upcoming publication of <em>The Trees Are Still Standing</em>, a seven-novel cycle spanning 456 years of Mediterranean history, asking how civilizations lose themselves — and what, if anything, remains.

Novel 1, The Andalusian (1609–1670), will be published in 2026. It tells the story of Mustafa de Cárdenas, a 17-year-old Morisco expelled from Spain in 1609 who arrives in Tunis and begins building institutions that will outlast empires — until they don't.

"The root holds." This is the central thesis of the cycle: that civilizations survive by going underground, creating autonomous networks like the waqf (Islamic endowment) that operate independently of rulers. But even the deepest roots can be severed.

The seven novels track the progressive dismantling of these institutions across four centuries, from the high-water mark of institutional success in Novel 1 to the final question in Novel 7: Is there anything left?

About the Author: Tayeb R. Damerji (born 1966, Tunisia) is a Tunisian-American electrical engineer, solar software founder, and olive grove owner. Named after the grandfather who sheltered a German soldier in 1943, he spent over a decade researching the institutional history of Andalusian, Ottoman, and Tunisian civilizations. The olive grove at Henchir al-Turki has been in his family for four centuries.

Publication Details:

• The Andalusian (Novel 1): ~52,000 words

• Publication date: 2026

• Formats: Hardcover, ebook, audiobook

• ISBN: [Pending]

• Price: [TBA]