When I first began writing In the Country of Men all I had was the voice of the protagonist. He intrigued me and my desire to want to know him and hi…

- Hisham Matar

Dreams have consequences. There is no turning back. A revolution is not a painless march to the gates of freedom and justice. It is a struggle betwee…

- Hisham Matar

Season of Migration to the North, by Tayeb Salih, is an eloquent and restrained portrait of one man's exile. It is a rare narrative in that it charts…

- Hisham Matar

I wanted to wear her as you would a piece of clothing, to fold into her ribs, be a stone in her mouth.

- Hisham Matar

I am of the firm opinion that no one should tell writers what to do, or what to write, or how to write.

- Hisham Matar

It is sometimes hard to escape the belief that history exists against the artist.

- Hisham Matar

Books written out of fire give me a great deal of pleasure. You get the sense that the world for these writers could not have continued if the book h…

- Hisham Matar

Nothing is more acceptable than what we are born into.

- Hisham Matar

Grief loves the hollow; all it wants is to hear its own echo.

- Hisham Matar