My Name Is Tani... and I Believe in Miracles

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HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Sep 15, 2020 - Chess players - 352 pages
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My Name is Tani: The Amazing True Story of One Boy's Journey from Refugee to Chess Champion

The story that is inspiring everyone! Soon to be a Paramount motion picture.

Draw deep into the dramatic account of escape from terrorism.

Tani Adewumi's story begins amid Boko Haram's reign of terror in Nigeria, but this doesn't stop him from pursuing a most unlikely dream. At the age of eight, when Tani and his family's lives are threatened, they are forced to flee for their lives and seek asylum. The odds were against Tani for ever finding a prosperous life in a foreign city, once enjoyed in his native Nigeria. But sometimes the unexpected is found in the most unlikely circumstances.

As Tani's family becomes a target for capture and killings, their miraculous escape takes them across an ocean to New York City. Tani's father, who comes from a royal family and has left behind thirteen employees in Nigeria, becomes a dishwasher and an Uber driver to support his family. Tani's mother, whose family helps to oversee the finances for a large Nigerian printing press, worked at a bank for more than eight years but is now training to become a home health aide.

After eighteen months, the family is still at a shelter, unbeknownst to Tani's classmates. One day Tani asks his parents if he can join the chess program. It seems unlikely since a fee is required. His mother writes to the coach, who offers Tani a scholarship. Tani jumps in to learn the game. The result is not only an unexpected twist of events in a chess competition but also the rescue of an entire family.

In My Name is Tani, we witness the crossfire between miracle and mayhem. A young boy with only a dream in his heart recounts his harrowing escape from Boko Haram's grips and changes his destiny in the process when he finds purpose in the most unlikely of places - a chess championship.

In step with The Girl from Aleppo, and in the spirit of I am Malala, Tani's story sheds light on living through terror. This story of community and hope recounts the lengths parents will go through to find safety for their family. It's a story of what happens one you dare to dream.

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About the author (2020)

Tani Adewumi is the eight-year-old Nigerian-born boy who recently won the NY State Chess Championship after playing the game for only a year. Tani and his family's story begins amidst Boko Haram's reign of terror in their native country of Nigeria and takes them to a New York City homeless shelter, where they waited to be granted religious asylum. Tani's father, who came from a royal Nigerian family, became a dishwasher and Uber driver to support his family. His mother, whose family owned the largest printing press in Nigeria and had been working at a bank for over a decade, trained to become a home-aid. So, when Tani asked to join the chess program at PS 116, which required a fee, it seemed unlikely. His mother wrote to the coach, who offered Tani a scholarship. Miracles led Tani and his family to New York. As Tani's father puts it, "There are many times in my life where I thought this must be the miracle and yet, I did not know that the miracle had not yet begun.

Craig Borlase is a New York Times, Sunday Times, and international bestselling ghostwriter of dramatic, engaging memoirs. Over the last two decades, he has written more than fifty-five books, working with a diverse range of authors for a global audience. Recent work includes Finding Gobi, the New York Times bestselling account of an ultramarathon runner's chance encounter with a stray dog in the Mongolian desert. Now translated into twenty-one languages, Finding Gobi is in the process of being adapted as a feature film by Sony Pictures. Craig collaborated with Andrew Brunson on God's Hostage (an ECPA 2020 Finalist), as well as My Name Is Tani, the story of an eight-year-old chess prodigy living in a homeless shelter in NYC, soon to be a Paramount Pictures movie produced by Trevor Noah. Craig has also ghosted for Bear Grylls on his bestseller Soul Fuel as well as a range of Middle Grade novels. One of his most recent projects is a memoir of an online gambling entrepreneur who introduced high stakes poker to Asia, with rights acquired by Netflix.

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