Bahrain is a kingdom the size of Minorca which lies in the middle of the Persian Gulf between Saudi Arabia and Iran, enduring many of the sectarian and political tensions that are stirring up the Middle East. A country with a Shia majority but governed by an absolute Sunni monarchy, it is a former British colony, home to the American Fifth Fleet, a pioneer in prospecting oil wells and in the workers’ struggle in the Arab world, and the first Muslim country to decriminalize homosexuality. It is a country whose recent history has been marked by the repression that followed the 2011 revolution, which Sánchez Mediavilla is reconstructing by making stops in London and Berlin to meet with members of dissident groups. This is the portrait of a society that combines the most advanced religious tolerance in the Gulf with underlying currents of Wahhabi and Shia rigorism, a place that makes a lovely destination for Western expats but a hell for Asian workers, who are subjected to cruel labor exploitation. A Dacha in the Gulf takes a close look at the weight held by religion, traditions and the very profession of journalism, to the point of iconoclasm.

Emilio Sánchez Mediavilla (Santander, 1979) is a journalist and publisher who co-founded the publishing firm Libros del K.O. He worked for the EFE News Agency, at La Opinión newspaper in A Coruña and at Condé Nast Traveler. He occasionally contributes to media such as El País, Vanity Fair or Altaïr. In 2019, he was the winner of the first Anagrama “Sergio González Rodríguez” Chronicle Award for A Dacha in the Gulf.