Author: Hisham Matar

Hisham Matar is a Libyan-British author renowned for his compelling narratives that explore themes of identity, exile, and the personal impacts of political turmoil. Born in New York City in 1970 to Libyan parents, Matar spent much of his youth in Tripoli and Cairo before moving to London, where he later studied architecture. His debut novel, "In the Country of Men" (2006), was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize and won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book, among other accolades. The novel, set in Tripoli, is a poignant tale of childhood under dictatorship.

Matar's follow-up, "Anatomy of a Disappearance" (2011), continued to garner critical praise, further establishing his reputation as a powerful voice in contemporary fiction. His 2016 memoir, "The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between," recounts his search for his father, a Libyan dissident who disappeared under Muammar Gaddafi's regime. The memoir won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography and the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. Matar is currently a professor at Barnard College, where he continues to inspire with his profound insights into human resilience and the complexities of displacement.