Hisham Matar

Hisham Matar is a Libyan‑British author and memoirist, born in New York City in 1970 to a Libyan diplomat father. His family returned to Tripoli in 1973, only to live in exile in Cairo beginning in 1979, when political repression forced them to flee Libya. Matar’s father was later abducted in Cairo in 1990 and never seen again—a traumatic event that profoundly shaped his writing and identity The New Yorker+15+15Wikiquote+15.

His acclaimed works—including the novel In the Country of Men and the Pulitzer Prize–winning memoir The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between—explore themes of exile, loss, memory, and identity. His more recent novel My Friends (long‑listed for the Booker Prize in 2024 and winner of the 2025 National Book Critics Circle Award) continues this exploration of displacement and belonging through a Libyan protagonist living in London The Times+3+3Goodreads+3.

Among his poignant reflections, Matar has written: “What do you do when you cannot leave and cannot return?” encapsulating the liminal state of exile BrainyQuote+15Goodreads+15Goodreads+15. He has also observed: “All great art allows us this: a glimpse across the limits of our self.” and noted: “Like all novelists, I’m interested in the filters between reality and the imagination.” +2BrainyQuote+2Quotes Study+2. These statements reveal his deep interest in memory, imagination, and how art shapes our humanity, resonating through both his prose and public reflections.