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Hisham Matar Profile
Hisham Matar

@hishamjmatar

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Writer

Joined January 2010
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
9 years
Libya has all but disappeared from the news, yet what is taking place there is of deadly importance. http://t.co/Gk2T6EgNsM @NewYorker
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
1 year
Absolutely thrilled. This book is very close to my heart.
@thebookseller
The Bookseller
1 year
"This is an indelible novel about love and friendship pressing against the confining limits of history itself." @VikingBooksUK has signed Pulitzer Prize-winner @hishamjmatar 's new novel, My Friends. Read here:
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
5 years
New book: A MONTH IN SIENA. Out in October. This is the U.K. cover. #amonthinsiena @VikingBooksUK
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
“They are not our teachers.” What a profound sentiment for our times. A much needed antidote to the vengeful, unimaginatively narrow and base dialogue that passes for political discourse these days--and not only in Libya.
@UnarmedLibyan
Mustafa Almahjoub
4 years
Today, in times of civil war & atrocities, I believe we as Libyans must reflect on another quote even more. When Omar Al-Mukhtar prevented the execution of two Italian prisoners, a fellow warrior responded “they do it to us!” To which he replied, “They are not our teachers.”
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
I first read Nawal El Saadawi’s when I was 15. The book was dedicated to a man. I finished it and thought I’d like to be the kind of man worthy of the friendship of such a woman. She helped open my eyes, and so many others. May she rest in peace.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
In 1870 Gustav Courbet was offered France’s Legion of Honour. He turned it down. His explanation, which he wrote to the Minister of Fine Art, remains one of the most poignant and beautiful examples of an artist’s devotion to his vocation:
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
1 year
This posthumous censorship, someone coming well after you are gone to pull and change your words, is a horrid thing, equivalent to theft & arson. Literarure is a voice caught in mid-flight, inspired and free of interruption or fear. 1/2
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
I am a huge fan of @igorpianist : the intelligence, authenticity and depth of feeling with which he plays, his wonderfully generous and inclusive spirit; one of the great artists of our time. And the new album is fantastic.
@igorpianist
Igor Levit
4 years
On #Encounter 👇👇👇
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
Sense has won over nonsense, reason over lies, decency over rudeness and insolence.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
1 year
Novel manuscripts. MY FRIENDS will be published exactly 8 months from today. ⁦ @PenguinUKBooks ⁩ ⁦ @VikingBooksUK ⁩ ⁦ @penguinrandom ⁩ ⁦ @Einaudieditore ⁩ ⁦ @Gallimard ⁩ ⁦ @SalamandraEd #novelwriting @zoepagnamenta ⁩ ⁦ @rcwlitagency
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
As Bush goes on about how “a random group of Americans is an exceptional group of people”, I’m thinking of the thousands of equally exceptional lives killed in Iraq & Afghanistan, the many more displaced & injured, the incalculable cost on the entire region & its people. 1/5
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
This is particularly heartening.
@royalacademy
Royal Academy
4 years
Has anyone read 'A Month in Siena' by @hishamjmatar ? For Rebecca Salter PRA, she "found it very powerful during lockdown with his quiet advocacy for reflection through looking and imagining."
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
6 years
Deeply honoured that The Return has won Germany's Geschwister-scholl Prize. Here is my acceptance speech:
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
8 years
Rembrandt was 51 when he painted this portrait of his son Titus. I can stand in front of it for hours. @WallaceMuseum
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
English Pastoral is an important book. It’s beauty is not only in the writing but in what lies behind it: a gentle & wise sensibility that is alive to the human love affair with the land, and yet also intimately aware of our systematic cruelty towards it.
@herdyshepherd1
James Rebanks
4 years
It took me a little while, but my new book is now on sale (for pre orders) It is about everything I care about and love and I hope you like it
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
6 years
No I'm not in Munich to give a piano recital, but for a literary prize that commemorates 2 individuals I hold in high esteem: Sophie & Hans Scholl, university students who resisted Nazism. This is the hall where the ceremony will be this evening.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
This makes me happy. Thank you.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
...I have always lived as a free man; let me end my days free. When I’m dead, they will say of me: that man never belonged to any school, any church, any institution, any academy, above all any regime, if it was not the regime of liberty.’
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
The endless colour of the water, the private secrecy of the trees, the sailboat on the horizon, the figure lost in thought in the foreground, the marvellous rooftops, the luminous ivory of the earth. Ambrogio Lorenzetti's 'Castle on the Lake', painted nearly 700 years ago.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
These words, from James Baldwin's novel Another Country, I say here with a smile to all my French friends: ‘French logic is very simple. Whatever the French do is logical because the French are doing it. That’s the real unbeatable advantage French logic has over all others.’
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
8 years
My earliest memory of books... via @newyorker
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
5 years
Photojournalist Mohamed Ben Khalifa died today covering clashes south of the capital Tripoli. It’s a tragic loss for his family and friends and for Libya, a country that has lost too many of its journalists.
@M_abdusa
Mohammed Ali
5 years
الزميل الصحفي محمد بن خليفة في ذمة الله بعد إصابته أثناء تغطيته للاشتباكات الدائرة جنوب #طرابلس اليوم. فاجعة أخرى نتلقاها .. اللهم أغفر له وأرحمه ، ولا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
Hats off to all those countless people, including some of my students and friends, who worked the polls, counted the ballots, kept their heads down and did the important work of honouring people’s right to choose.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
A great writer. May she rest in peace. Best way to keep an author alive is to read her work. So many to choose from. The one on Trieste is a personal favourite.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Parallel Stories Presents Hisham Matar - To join this free online event, which takes place tomorrow, please get a virtual ticket here...
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
5 years
I was honoured to deliver Edward Said Memorial Lecture at @Columbia . I chose to focus it on Said's (and my) longstanding facination with the work of Joseph Conrad, and both men's condition of being 'guests' in the places & language where they lived.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
8½ - The First Three Minutes. The remaining 135 are just as beautiful. Playing tomorrow at @BFI . Last time I booked the entire row F (for Fellini) and invited all my friends. Only one walked out. We haven't spoken much since.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
Honour is neither in a title nor a ribbon,’ he wrote the Minister of Fine Arts. ‘It is in the act and the motive for the act. The state is incompetent in the matter of art. I decline the honour that you believed you did me. I’m fifty years old and...
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
1 year
Such actions, no doubt motivated by good intentions, not only vandalise books, they also risk inhibiting the imagination, frightening young writers into states of guilty supervision.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
Ever seen two writers interview one another? Well, that's what will be happening this Thursday. Thrilled to be doing this with @LauraCummingArt and for @TheLondonLib . It's free. And if you don't know Laura's work yet it is WONDERFUL
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
7 years
Absolutely thrilling to be reading Jean Rhys's original manuscript of Good Morning Midnight at the @utulsa archive.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
9 years
IN THE COUNTRY OF MEN is among The Penguin Essentials list of "some of the 20th century's most important books". http://t.co/oAYvbBzrSZ
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
2 years
@LibyanAffairs
Libyan Affairs
2 years
For me, nothing describes our struggles like these words by @hishamjmatar . Dreams have consequences. 🇱🇾 Feb 17 🇱🇾
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
1 year
So looking forward to this. My relationship with the @royalacademy first started when I was 18 & I used to spend long afternoons reading in the old cafe in the basement because it was warm & well lit & no one asked you to leave. @VikingBooksUK @penguinrandom
@architecture_RA
RA Architecture
1 year
MY SECRET LONDON: A Talk by Hisham Matar Wednesday 31 May, 6.30pm Join us in person or online as Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist @hishamjmatar takes to the Royal Academy stage, to discuss the city of London, his adopted home. 🎟️ ➡️
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
5th & final episode of #AMonthinSiena . Thanks to @WatersCompany for adapting it so beautifully, to @khalidabdalla for lending his spirit and intellect to it, and to @BBCRadio4 's Book of the Week. All episodes are available below.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
5 years
"The seasons after the Arab Spring" by Gilbert Achcar. Best analysis I've read on the subject #arabspring
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
11 years
CIA agent who killed several Pinochet critics in US and Argentina is suspected of poisoning Neruda. http://t.co/9ZPiNofuZa
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
5 years
A wonderful early review by David Sexton of my new book, A Month in Siena, which will be out a week from today: A Month in Siena by Hisham Matar -
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
So pleased to be doing this. @FoxedQuarterly were the first to celebrate The Return, and @Hatchards is a dear and familair place.
@FoxedQuarterly
Slightly Foxed | Magazine, Small Press, Podcast
4 years
The Return: Hisham Matar in conversation with the Biographers’ Club & Slightly Foxed || Join us for an evening with author @hishamjmatar at Hatchards Piccadilly, 6.30 p.m. Thursday 27 Feb. Tickets £10. @BiographersClub @Hatchards
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
5 years
A review of Death Is Hard Work by Khaled Khalifa – searing Syrian road trip @guardian @GuardianBooks @FaberBooks @khaled_khalifah
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
True
@PoliticsJOE_UK
PoliticsJOE
3 years
A beautiful speech from @VanJones68 This is what it means
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
10 years
'I was not unhappy, save only from day to day.' Proust
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Hisham Matar
4 years
Hassan is a profoundly decent person and his testimony here is moving and should concern and upset us all.
@hassan_akkad
Hassan Akkad حسان عقاد
4 years
I hope you can help my get this message delivered to Mr, PM @BorisJohnson
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
This is why much of today’s commemorations, speeches and proclamations made by former and current US officials ring hallow and do little to pay respect to the dark gravity of what took place on and since 9/11. 5/5
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
1 year
Collaborating with the artist David Austen has been a joy. Now his drawings & my words, read so beautifully by ⁦ @khalidabdalla ⁩, are up at the ⁦ @InglebyGallery ⁩ ⁦ @rcwlitagency ⁩ ⁦ @zoepagnamenta ⁩ ⁦ @VikingBooksUK ⁩ ⁦
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
A good day for America and a great day for democracy.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
It’s broken largely because successive UK governments tolerated and sometimes encouraged scapegoating immigrants. It‘s happening right now. It‘s wrong, cruel and misses the truth of the matter, which is that what we need is to learn to live together.
@Channel4News
Channel 4 News
4 years
The UK’s asylum system is “fundamentally broken”, the Home Secretary said today, and Priti Patel promised “the biggest overhaul” of that system in decades.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
I’m with @rizwanahmed and extend to him all my appreciation and gratitude.
@rizwanahmed
Riz Ahmed
3 years
I'm fed up of seeing Muslim characters on screen either negative or non existent. The industry must change. Our new study proves what many of us always felt about #MuslimsInFilm . The cost is measured in hate & lost lives. Full speech here:
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
Seamus Heaney via Joe Biden
@jackiefox_
Jackie Fox
3 years
We all know about Joe Biden’s love of Seamus Heaney. So myself and VT editors Meabh Kearney and Cliona Higgins put this together to wrap this historic day for @rtenews
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
12 years
To be or not to be. Meaning, there is a choice.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
È una gioia e un onore vedere i talentuosi Michele Riondino e @TehoTeardo suonare dal mio libro, il ritorno, domani. Ringrazio entrambi, @dedicafestival e tutti i miei lettori italiani. @Einaudieditore
@TehoTeardo
Teho Teardo
3 years
3 Luglio, Teatro Verdi, Pordenone. Michele Riondino e Teho Teardo, il ritorno.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
10 years
Hope & despair have wedded this Libyan heart to a small yellow ball in Cape Town Stadium: Libya v Ghana
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
A joy and an honour to have the talented Michele Riondino & @TehoTeardo perform from my book, The Return, tomorrow. My thanks to them both, to @dedicafestival and my wonderful Italian publisher @Einaudieditore
@TehoTeardo
Teho Teardo
3 years
3 Luglio, Teatro Verdi, Pordenone. Michele Riondino e Teho Teardo, il ritorno.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
Beautiful
@johnlegend
John Legend
3 years
Georgia on my mind
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Hisham Matar
8 years
Muhammed Abd Elnaby wins Egypt's Translation Prize for his translation of my novel Anatomy of a Disappearance.
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
8 years
OUT TOMORROW
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
First Quarterly Report on the Human Rights Situation in Libya (July- September 2020) - Defender Center
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
8 years
The gorgeous Canadian edition, front and back... @AAKnopf
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
Thank you!
@will_mannon
Will Mannon
3 years
The Return by @hishamjmatar is a wrenching story of loss, grief, and love of family and country – by a son whose father was kidnapped by the Gaddafi regime in Libya. Soon after finishing the book, I was stuck in a spiraling swirl of negativity. This book helped me escape ✍️👇...
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
What fabulous news!
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Hisham Matar
11 years
Most people, owing to ambition, wish to be loved rather than to love--Aristotle
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
In my lifetime, there has been no other single event that has done more damage to the lives and prospects of the peoples of the Middle East, nor more harm to America’s better self, than the largely criminal, wide ranging and multifarious U.S. response to 9/11. 3/5
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
How we respond to a crime has an effect on that crime. Over 3000 lives were unjustly taken 20 years ago today in NYC. How US military, intelligence agencies and successive governments have acted since has repaid blood with blood, injustice with greater injustices. 2/5
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
6 years
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
Wonderful news.
@ExInt24
Expression Interrupted
4 years
Novelist and journalist #AhmetAltan has just been released from Silivri Prison after spending 1138 days behind bars. Ahmet Altan is greeted by his brother #MehmetAltan , who was one of seven defendants in the #AltansCase
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
8 years
Here is the beautiful UK edition of THE RETURN. Out in exactly one week today. @PoppyN @VikingBooks
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
11 months
MY AMERICA is an incredible book, 6 years in the making, and conjures up a haunting portrait of the soul of America. Please support the Kickstarter campaign. @GOST_Books @BarnardCollege @dianamatar1 @BWPMag @thamesandhudson @Tate
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
7 years
Alarming when a president-elect deems an act of speaking truth to power as "harassment". @nytimes
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
5 years
25 Ekim 2018’de Columbia Üniversitesi’nde “Edward W. Said Anma Konuşması”nı yapan Hisham Matar’ın konuşma metni, Yasemin Çongar tarafından yazarın özel izniyle Türkçeye çevrilmiştir @YaseminCongar_
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
3 years
It weekend American institutions, commitment to international law and norms, while tearing to shreds the fabric of several countries, promoting in them extremes and treating the lives of their people with little or no concern. 4/5
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
5 years
‘There’s a line by John Clare that I adore. I love John Clare. I revere him. “Poets love nature, and themselves are love.” And I believe that with all my heart, really. And part of writing is adoration.‘
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
11 years
A short Ken Loach film that touches on the dark history between the CIA and the Chilean dictator Pinochet: http://t.co/iTMhmYIKkK
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
4 years
Nina Simone, that angel who had thinned all the walls between her and the truth and so burned right in front of our eyes:
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
6 years
The Edward W. Said Memorial Lecture: Hisham Matar on Said and Conrad
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
8 years
Hisham Matar’s search for his father’s memory is more heartbreaking than any fiction can be via @scroll_in
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@hishamjmatar
Hisham Matar
2 years
Tonight…
@LeightonHouse_
Leighton House and Sambourne House
2 years
Join us next week for an evening of literary exploration as @gingkolibrary editor @MJSGibson guides the conversation between award-winning authors @bellaigueC & @hishamjmatar as they discuss their inspirations, writing process & the Mediterranean world 👉
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