On Thursday, April 27, UCSB Arts & Lectures will host a free talk with Laila Lalami, who will speak on Muslims in America: A Secret History at Campbell Hall. Three years have passed since Lalami’s The Moor’s Account was published, but buzz continues to surround the award-winning novelist and essayist. Lalami was born and raised in Rabat, the capital of Morrocco, before pursuing higher education in Great Britain and the United States. Her most current novel, The Moor’s Account, details the experience of Estebanico, a Moroccan slave who was one of four survivors from the Narváez expedition — a journey led by Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca in 1527 that began in Spain and ended in Florida. This historical fiction novel was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction award in 2015.
Lalami shares her experience living as an immigrant, emerging as a public figure and writing the fiction novel that not only sheds light on the past but also calls attention to present-day affairs.
What was it like living as an immigrant and studying in different countries? Did this have any effect on your writing? It’s an experience that isn’t unique. It’s an experience that I’ve shared with millions of other people, and it takes time to adjust to a new place. And at the same time, while these countries may have been new to me, they offered a sense of familiarity.