“Growing up in the Libya of the 1970s, I remember the prevalence of local bands who were as much influenced by Arabic musical traditions as by the Rolling Stones or the Beatles. But the project of 'Arabisation' soon got to them, too, and western musical instruments were declared forbidden as 'instruments of imperialism.'”

American-born British-Libyan novelist, essayist, and memoirist

Hisham Matar is an American-born British-Libyan novelist, essayist, and memoirist. He is known for writing about exile, loss, family, and political violence, often through work shaped by his own experience of displacement. His debut novel, In the Country of Men, was shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize. His memoir The Return, which follows the search for his father, won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography and several other awards. His essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, The New York Times, and elsewhere, and he has written several other novels.