Author Mark Haddon has given his support to a new book detailing the experiences of asylum seekers arriving in Oxford.

How the World came to Oxford: Refugees Past and Present features the stories of refugees who have been helped by volunteers at Asylum Welcome, based in Cowley Road.

The book includes testimonies featured in four exhibitions at Modern Art Oxford and is being published to coincide with the Oxford Literary Festival, which runs from Tuesday, March 20, to Sunday, March 25.

In his foreword to the book, Mr Haddon, the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and A Spot of Bother, says he was captivated when he saw Rory Carnegie's photographs of asylum seekers at the art gallery a couple of years ago.

He added: "Becoming an asylum seeker isn't something that happens to people by accident.

"We talk of people being forced to flee persecution in their home countries. But the brutal truth is that no-one is forced to flee.

"Fleeing is what you do if you have the guts to leave. Most people stay and hope for the best. But the best rarely happens. If they're lucky, they lie awake at night waiting for the knock on the door. If they're unlucky they're killed, or tortured, or thrown into prison.

"That's the self-possession you can see in these faces. These are people who had the strength to do something most people are incapable of doing, leaving everything behind and starting their lives all over again in a country that often makes this very difficult indeed."

Nikki van der Gaag, the book's editor and a trustee of Asylum Welcome, said 2,000 copies were being published by the festival, priced £10. Profits will go to Asylum Welcome and the linked organisation Refugee Resource.

Ms van der Gaag said: "The refugees who have come to Oxford are incredibly resilient, but they have told us that they wouldn't have been able to cope if it wasn't for the help of volunteers working at Asylum Welcome. They have lost their families, lost their homes and their countries and do need people to support them."

In the first photographic exhibition five years ago, young male asylum seekers presented Picturing Oxford -the City through the Eyes of Young Asylum Seekers.

On Thursday, March 22, the literary festival is hosting a free event about the book at the Music Room, at Christ Church, at 6pm.