Award-winning novelist Mohsin Hamid’s newest work, The Last White Man, begins with a premise borrowed from Kafka: one day, his protagonist wakes up to find that he has undergone a transformation overnight. In this case, he has metamorphosed from a white man into a man of color. As similar transformations begin to occur to all white members of his town, the previously fixed social order begins to break down. Disorienting and thought-provoking, the work forces readers to confront the instability of racial identity in contemporary society. Wielding the absurd as a tool for political engagement, Hamid harnesses fiction’s capacity to inspire the imagination in order to propose alternative visions for the world.

About the speaker:

Mohsin Hamid was born in Lahore (Pakistan) in 1971. Known all over the world for The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), he has lived between Pakistan, United-States and London all his life.

Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (Hamid will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.

This event requires advance registration.

Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.