Hisham Matar

Infobox Writer


imagesize = 150px
name = Hisham Matar
caption =
birthdate = birth year and age|1970
birthplace = New York City, New York, United States of America
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = Novelist, Poet & Essayist
period = 2004–present
genre = fiction
subject =
movement =
notableworks = "In the Country of Men"

Hisham Matar (born 1970)cite press release| title = The Man Booker Prize 2006 Shortlist| publisher = Booker Prize Foundation| date = 14 September, 2006| url = http://www.themanbookerprize.com/pressoffice/release?r=27#titletop| accessdate = 2006-09-14] is a Libyan author. His debut novel "In the Country of Men" was shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize.. Matar’s essays have appeared in the Asharq Alawsat, The Independent, The Guardian, The Times and The New York Times. He currently lives and writes in London.

Background

Hisham Matar was born in New York City. He spent his childhood in America with his Libyan parents while his father was working for the Libyan delegation to the United Nations. When he was three years old, his family went back to Tripoli, Libya, where he spent his early childhood. Due to political persecutions by the Gaddafi regime, in 1979 his father was accused of being a reactionary to the Libyan revolutionary regime and was forced to flee the country with his family. They lived in exile in Egypt where Hisham and his brother completed their schooling in Cairo.cite web| title = Hisham Matar| publisher = Penguin UK| accessdate = 2006-11-16| url = http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,1000070485,00.html] [cite web| title = Hisham Matar| publisher = The Guardian| date = 29 June, 2006| accessdate = 2006-06-29| url = http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,1808361,00.html] In 1986 he moved to London, United Kingdom, where he continued his studies and received a degree in architecture. In 1990, while he was still in London, his father, a political dissident, was kidnapped in Cairo. He has been reported missing ever since. However, in 1996, the family received two letters with his father's handwriting stating that he was kidnapped by the Egyptian secret police, handed over to the Libyan regime, and imprisoned in the notorious Abu-Salim prison in the heart of Tripoli. Since that date, there has been no more information about his father's whereabouts.

Hisham Matar began writing poetry and experimented in theatre. He began writing his first novel "In the Country of Men" in early 2000. In the autumn of 2005, the publishers Penguin International signed a two-book deal with him, and the novel was a huge success.

Awards and recognition

His first novel, "In the Country of Men", was published in July 2006 and received accolades from such notable figures as J M Coetzee, Anne Michaels and Nadeem Aslam. [cite web| title = In the Country of Men| publisher = The Independent| accessdate = 2006-09-24| url = http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/article1735206.ece] It went on to be shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. [cite web| title = The Man Booker Award| publisher = The Man & Booker groups| accessdate = 2006-10-10| url = http://www.themanbookerprize.com/prize/books/47] , and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2006. [cite web| title = The Guardian First Book Award| publisher = The Guardian| accessdate = 2006-11-10| url = http://books.guardian.co.uk/fba2006/0,,1855769,00.html] It has won the 2007 Commonwealth First Book Award for Europe and South Asia, the 2007 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, the Italian Premio Vallombrosa Gregor von Rezzori, the Italian Premio Internazionale Flaiano (Sezione Letteratura) and the inaugural Arab American National Museum Book Award. "In the Country of Men" has been translated into 22 languages.

In 2008 Hisham Matar became the Mary Amelia Cummins Harvey Visiting Fellow Commoner at Girton College, University of Cambridge, England.

Bibliography

* "In the Country of Men", Viking-Penguin, 2006, ISBN 0-670-91639-0

See also

* English literature
* Libya
* Arabic literature
* Arab-American literature

References

External links

* [http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article1171361.ece Independent Autobiography]
* [http://www.x-bout.com/awe/jul06.html African Writers' Evening]
* [http://imtidad.blogspot.com/2006/07/african-writers-evening-and-more.html Imtidad Blog on Hisham Matar]