The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between
by Hisham Matar
Award History
| Award | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|
| James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography | 2020 | Shortlist |
| PEN/Jean Stein Book Award | 2017 | Winner |
| Rathbones Folio Prize | 2017 | Winner |
| Baillie Gifford Prize | 2016 | Shortlist |
About This Book
Hisham Matar's Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir recounts his return to Libya after the revolution and his quest to discover what happened to his father Jaballa Matar, who was kidnapped by the Gaddafi regime and disappeared into Abu Salim prison. Moving between Benghazi, Cairo, and London, the memoir is a profound meditation on loss, loyalty, and the possibility of justice. It won the Rathbones Folio Prize in 2017 and the Pulitzer Prize for Biography.
About the Author
Hisham Matar is a Libyan-American novelist and memoirist whose work excavates the intersections of political violence, exile, memory, and family. Born in New York City to Libyan parents, he spent his childhood in Tripoli and Cairo before moving to England, where he was educated at the London School of Economics. His debut novel In the Country of Men (2006) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and won several international prizes. Read more →
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