Yassin Adnan and Alex Elinson with Laila Lalami

Moroccan author Yassin Adnan, translator Alexander Elinson, and longtime Elliott Bay friend and noted, award-winning author Laila Lalami are all set to virtually be on hand for this program centered around the U.S. publication of Yassin Adnan’s spirited novel, Hot Maroc (Syracuse University Press).

“Finally, the vibrant work of Yassin Adnan is available in English. Alexander Elinson’s playful translation of Hot Maroc brings us into the heart of today’s Marrakech, an ancient city weathering the rapid changes brought by modernization, globalization, and, most importantly in this book, the Internet. At once a commemoration of the past and an insightful look at our influence on the present, Hot Maroc expands our ideas of a country that has been woefully underrepresented in English-language literature, while taking us on a wild ride through an anonymous online world that holds the power to reveal our true selves.”—Emma Ramadan.

“A witness to his age like any true writer, Yassin Adnan paints a complex and forceful portrait of a Morocco where so often, reality exceeds fiction. Fluidly and beautifully written, this novel is a superb addition to a youthful new wave of Moroccan creative work.”—Tahar Ben Jelloun.

If we have people properly ‘situated’ for this evening which the zoom era makes possible, author Yassin Adnan will be joining us from Marrakech (where he has long been an esteemed prose writer, poet, and journalist), Alexander Elinson from New York (where he is head of the Arabic program at Hunter College, CUNY, and has written his own books and translated works by Youssef Fadel), and Laila Lalami, serving as interlocutor and guide here, joining us from southern California, teaching there at the University of California, Riverside, and writing several acclaimed novels, with her most recent book being a timely book of essays, Conditional Citizens.
This should be a delight on several counts.