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| Hisham Matar | |
|---|---|
| Name | Hisham Matar |
| Birth date | 1970 |
| Birth place | New York City, United States |
| Occupation | Author, Novelist, Essayist |
| Nationality | Libyan, British |
| Notable works | In the Country of Men; The Return; Anatomy of a Disappearance |
Hisham Matar Hisham Matar is a Libyan-British novelist and essayist known for works exploring exile, memory, and disappearance, connecting Tripoli and London with broader themes of Arab Spring and Cold War geopolitics. His writing has engaged readers across institutions like Oxford University and publications such as The New Yorker, earning major literary awards including the Man Booker Prize shortlist and the Pulitzer Prize longlist. Matar's profile intersects with historical figures and events from Muammar Gaddafi to Anwar Sadat, weaving personal narrative into global contexts involving United Nations and international human rights advocacy.
Born in New York City to a Libyan family with diplomatic ties, Matar spent his childhood between Tripoli and Cairo amid the political aftermath of Yom Kippur War and shifting alliances with Soviet Union and United States. His father, a Libyan diplomat affiliated with missions to institutions like the League of Arab States and contacts with ambassadors from Egypt and Sudan, disappeared under the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, an event linked to detention practices reminiscent of cases pursued by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Family members included relatives living in Milan, Beirut, and London, whose experiences reflected migrations similar to those of diasporas from Tunisia and Algeria during the late 20th century.
Educated at St John's School, Leatherhead and later at St John's College, Oxford, Matar's academic life intersected with curricula influenced by scholars at Cambridge University and archives from British Library and Bibliothèque nationale de France. Early professional steps included internships and editorial roles with outlets like The Independent, The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement, and contributions to journals such as Granta and The New York Review of Books. His formative contacts encompassed critics and writers linked to Saul Bellow, V.S. Naipaul, Edward Said, T.S. Eliot, and editors at Faber and Faber and Viking Press.
Matar's oeuvre resonates with themes found in literature by Graham Greene, Albert Camus, James Baldwin, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Orhan Pamuk, interrogating exile and familial rupture against backdrops involving Soviet Union intelligence practices, CIA operations, and European postcolonial legacies. He often situates narrative voice in cities like London, Cairo, Paris, and Tripoli, employing memory techniques comparable to Marcel Proust and documentary traces akin to investigative reporting by Seymour Hersh. Critics have related his interrogation of disappearance to human rights cases documented by United Nations Human Rights Council and trials such as those before the International Criminal Court and historical inquiries like the Chile and Argentina truth commissions.
His first novel, In the Country of Men, evokes settings associated with Tripoli and draws parallels with accounts from Naguib Mahfouz and Assia Djebar; the novel was shortlisted for prizes alongside works by Kazuo Ishiguro and Ian McEwan. Anatomy of a Disappearance blends motifs reminiscent of Graham Greene's moral ambiguity and Patricia Highsmith's suspense, set against landscapes visited by characters in novels by Paul Auster and Susan Sontag. The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between is a memoir that aligns with reportage from journalists at The Washington Post and The Guardian, detailing connections to institutions like Revolutionary Committees (Libya) and references to diplomatic actors such as envoys from France and Italy.
Matar has received recognition including the Folio Prize, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence shortlist, the Baillie Gifford Prize shortlist, and the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger nominations alongside authors like Elena Ferrante and Marilynne Robinson. He was awarded fellowships and lectureships at King's College London, Harvard University, Yale University, and held positions tied to Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Arts. His accolades intersect with honors given by organizations such as English PEN, European Council cultural awards, and invitations to festivals like Hay Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, and Berlin International Literature Festival.
Matar's personal activism has engaged human rights networks including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and campaigns linked to Libyan Revolution (2011) and the aftermath overseen by institutions like the United Nations Security Council and International Criminal Court. He has collaborated with lawyers and investigators from International Committee of the Red Cross and participated in panels with figures from Amal Clooney's networks, civil society actors from Tunisia and Egypt, and journalists from BBC and Al Jazeera. Matar resides between London and Rome, maintains ties with cultural institutions such as British Museum and Villa Medici, and continues to contribute essays and lectures to audiences at Columbia University and Princeton University.
Category:Libyan novelists Category:British novelists Category:1970 births Category:Living people