My Trip to Karabakh

by Nick Nwolisa

In 2020, when war returned to Karabakh, Nigerian- born educator and humanitarian Nick Nwolisa was living in Baku—raising children, mentoring students, and navigating uncertainty in a time of war and global pandemic. His personal migration story – and his work supporting war-affected communities – infuses My Trip to Karabakh with empathy and resolve. Each page reflects his belief in bridging cultures and building a brighter future. My Trip to Karabakh is his compelling journey through a land marked by conflict, resilience, and hope. Blending African perspective with Azerbaijani reality, Nick offers a fresh, deeply human narrative about migration, identity, and the cost and promise of peace. (Publisher's note)

228 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2025

About the author

Nick Nwolisa is an educator, humanitarian, and economic analyst. He lectures in economics at Azerbaijan Technical University and has worked with the International Eurasia Press Fund on community development and mine-related programs. He has written widely about support initiatives for mine victims, including the Azerbaijan Mine Victim Association and the Terter Regional Vocational Training Center. His work has appeared in academic publications on mine action.

Reviews

[Guljahan Mammadli · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who is from Azerbaijan, I am very disappointed with this book for many reasons. First of all the author doesn’t sound objective at all, from beginning to the end he tries very hard to picture “perfect Azerbaijani government”. It is very obvious and it doesn’t do the justice for this topic. And it definitely doesn’t represent Azerbaijan in a good way for foreign readers. He calls himself apolitical while contradicting himself with the whole content of the book.

I do though appreciate his work and some interesting information regarding all the organizations he wrote about. This book could have been only about his work and give us a chance to see what has been done to help war victims and what is needed, what they go through in the different time periods he is working. However it turned into a political one, very intentionally.. while stating the opposite.

[Justyna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Understandably, the narrative is most emotive and truthful when the author talks about his own work and experiences within IEPF and related topics. But when other matters are discussed or political views voiced out, that's when it gets muddy. Whether it's the editor's censorship, or a self-induced one - that's hard to say - but there definitely is one. Problematic (for the government) historical events, lack of press freedom or any corruption claims are always "alleged", patriarchy is always a forced one (sic!), and it's really hard to see objectivity throughout the book, despite the fact that the word is being floated around numerous times. I know that in order to have a book published and distributed in one of Azerbaijan's major bookstores, you need to really choose your words wisely, but to have it advertised as very objective, because it's a perspective of an outsider? Bit much, I'd say.
Towards the end it becomes very apparent, that the author is a strong supporter of the ruling president and his views are not "clouded" by concepts such as human rights, nepotism, feminism, gender equality or freedom of speech.
Other than that, the book struggles with editing, which is a signature mark of this publisher. Just like other TEAS Press books I've come in contact with, there are numerous typos, mistakes, double spaces. However, for their curriculum of English-language editions, it seems to be the best one up to date, easy to read and follow, and the author truly tries his best at shining a positive light on all the initiatives in the war-affected zones. It lacks insight, but at the same time is a personal account, so I can forgive that. But it is certainly anything but objective.