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SUMMARY:In Conversation with...Hisham Matar - Hisham Matar
DTSTART:20081124T130000Z
DTEND:20081124T143000Z
UID:TALK15215@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lesley Dixon
DESCRIPTION:Hisham Matar is a Libyan writer whose debut novel is In the Co
 untry of Men (partly autobiographical). Matar has also written for Asharq 
 Alawsat\, The Independent\, The Guardian\, The Times and the The New York 
 Times.\n\nIn the Coutry of Men was published in July 2006. Shortlisted for
  the Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award 2006\, it won the 
 2007 Commonwealth First Book Award for Europe and South Asia\, the 2007 Ro
 yal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize\, the Italian Premio Vallombrisa 
 Gregor von Rezzori\, the Italian Premio Internazionale Flaiano (Sezione Le
 tteratura) and the inaugural Arab American National Museum Book Award. In 
 the Country of Men has been translated into 22 languages.\n\nMatar's novel
  tracks the effects of Libyan strongman Khadafy's 1969 September revolutio
 n on the el-Dawani family\, as seen by nine-year-old Suleiman\, who narrat
 es as an adult. Living in Tripoli 10 years after the revolution with his p
 arents Suleiman has his world turned upside down when the secret police–
 like Revolutionary Committee puts the family in its sights—though Suleim
 an does not know it\, his father has spoken against the regime and is a cl
 andestine agitator—along with families in the neighborhood. The ensuing 
 brutality resonates beyond the bloody events themselves to a brutalizing o
 f heart and mind for all concerned. Matar renders it brilliantly\, as well
  as zeroing in on the regime's reign of terror itself: mock trials\, telev
 ised executions\, neighbors informing on friends\, persecution mania in th
 ose remaining. (Adapted review from Publishers Weekly.)
LOCATION:Upper Hall\, Jesus College
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