In his deeply personal work about identity, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ayad Akhtar forges a new narrative voice to capture a country in which debt has ruined countless lives and the gods of finance rule. Here immigrants live in fear and the nation's unhealed wounds wreak havoc around the world. Homeland Elegies blends fact and fiction to tell an epic story of longing and dispossession in the world that 9/11 made. Part family drama, part social essay, part picaresque novel, at its heart it is the story of a father, a son, and the country they both call home. Akhtar attempts to make sense of it all through the lens of a story about one family, from a heartland town in America to palatial suites in Central Europe to guerrilla lookouts in the mountains of Afghanistan, and spares no one—least of all himself—in the process.

Ayad Akhtar talks to Miriam Fernandes (WhyNot Theatre) about Homeland Elegies and forging an identity in a culture that expects conformity.

About this event’s guests:
Ayad Akhtar
Miriam Fernandes


Photo of author courtesy of Vincent Tullo.

This event is part of TPL's Asian Heritage series.

Toronto Public Library is committed to accessibility. Please call or email us if you are Deaf or have a disability and would like to request accommodation to participate in this program. Please let us know as far in advance as possible and we will do our best to meet your request. At least three weeks’ notice is preferred. Phone 416-393-7099 or email accessibleservices@tpl.ca

Ayad Akhtar: Homeland Elegies