Libyan Hisham Matar to Talk at Westmont

Libyan novelist Hisham Matar will read from his latest book, “Anatomy of a Disappearance,” Friday, Oct. 7, at noon in Founders Room in Westmont’s Kerr Student Center. The talk, sponsored by the English and history departments and student life and provost’s offices, is free and open to the public.

Matar wrote “In the Country of Men,” which was published in 2006 and has been translated into 26 languages. His debut novel was nominated for the 2006 Man Booker Prize, the Guardian First Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. It won six international literary awards, including a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.

“He tells vivid and compelling stories with a lyrically economical style that conveys a sense of the bittersweet,” says Cheri Larsen Hoeckley, Westmont professor of English. “He also tells stories that give us an insider’s glimpse into the day-to-day lives of Libyan people. As we remember the combination of turmoil and hope that marks their lives today, Matar’s voice is a crucial one for us to listen to.”

Matar was born in New York City to Libyan parents and spent his childhood first in Tripoli and then in Cairo. He lives in London, and serves as an associate professor at Barnard College in New York City.