Laila Lalami

Laila Lalami
Lalami Author Photo
Born	1968 Rabat, Morocco
Occupation	Novelist, professor
Nationality	Morocco, United States
Genre	fiction
Notable works	The Moor's Account (2014), Secret Son (2009), Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (2005)
Website
lailalalami.com

Laila Lalami (Arabic: ليلى العلمي‎‎, born 1968) is a Moroccan-American novelist and essayist. After earning her undergraduate degree in Morocco, she received a fellowship to study in the UK, where she earned an MA in linguistics.

In 1992 Lalami moved to the United States, completing a PhD in linguistics at the University of Southern California. She began publishing her writing in 1996, and in 2015 was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for her 2014 novel The Moor's Account, which received strong critical praise.

Early life

Lalami was born and raised in Rabat, Morocco, where she earned her BA in English from Mohammed V University. In 1990, she received a British Council fellowship to study in England and completed an MA in Linguistics at University College, London. After graduating, she returned to Morocco and worked briefly as a journalist and commentator. In 1992 she moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California, from which she graduated with a PhD in Linguistics.^[1]

Career

Lalami began writing fiction and nonfiction in English in 1996.^[2] Her literary criticism, cultural commentary, and opinion pieces have appeared in The Boston Globe, Boston Review, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, and elsewhere. In 2016, she was named both a columnist for The Nation^[3] magazine and a critic-at-large for The Los Angeles Times Book Review.^[4]

Her debut collection of stories, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, was released in the fall of 2005 and has since been translated into six languages (one of them being Dutch). Her first novel, Secret Son (2009), was longlisted for the Orange Prize.^[5][6]

Her 2014 novel The Moor's Account, based on the life of Estevanico, the first black explorer of America and one of four survivors of the 1527 Narváez expedition,^[7] was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction^[8] and the winner of an American Book Award.^[9]

Lalami has received an Oregon Literary Arts grant, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.^[10] She was selected in 2009 by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader.^[11]

She is a professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside.^[12]

Recognition

For The Moor's Account

• Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist, 2015^[13]
• Man Booker Prize longlist, 2015^[14]
• American Book Award winner, 2015^[15]
• Arab American Book Award winner, 2015^[16]
• Hurston-Wright Legacy Award winner, 2015^[17]
• Langum Prizes, 2014 (Historical Fiction Prize)^[18]
• The Wall Street Journal Best Books, 2014^[19]
• NPR Best Books, 2014^[20]
• The New York Times Notable Books, 2014^[21]
• Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Books, 2014^[22]

Other honors

• 2016, Guggenheim Fellowship.^[23]
• 2013, Elizabeth George Foundation "Women Authoring Change" Fellowship.^[24]
• 2012, Lannan Foundation Residency Fellowship.^[25]
• 2010, Orange Prize longlist for Secret Son.
• 2009, Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, Finalist.
• 2009, Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum.
• 2007, Fulbright Fellowship.
• 2003, Morocco-British Council Literary Prize for the Short Story.
• 1990, British Council Fellowship.

For Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits

• 2006, Fletcher Pratt Fellowship in Fiction, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference.
• 2006, Oregon Book Award, Finalist.
• 2006, Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship in Fiction.
• 2006, Caine Prize for African Writing, Finalist.
• 2006, John Gardner Fiction Prize, Finalist.

Bibliography

Novels

• Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, NC, 2005. ISBN 1-56512-493-6)
• Secret Son (Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, NC, 2009. ISBN 1-56512-494-4)
• The Moor's Account (Pantheon Books, New York, NY, 2014. ISBN 978-0307911667)

Short stories

• "How I Became My Mother's Daughter". Callaloo. 32 (4): 1120–1122. 2009. doi:10.1353/cal.0.0572 – via Project MUSE. 

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Laila Lalami.

• Author Site
• Author's Blog
• Lalami archive from The Nation