Hisham Matar
Hisham Matar was born in New York City, where his father served in the Libyan UN delegation.
Returning to Tripoli at age three, he spent his early childhood in Libya before his family fled Qaddafi's regime in 1979, settling in exile in Cairo.
In 1986, Matar moved to London, earning an architecture degree.
In 1990, his father was kidnapped by Egyptian secret police and handed to Libyan authorities, imprisoned in Abu Salim prison, and never seen again.
Matar began writing poetry and theatre before achieving international success with his debut novel, In the Country of Men, published in 2006.
