Hisham Matar books

Complete list of all Hisham Matar books in order, including his Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir The Return and novels like In the Country of Men and My Friends.

Non-Fiction

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Return 2016 Buy
A Month in Siena 2019 Buy

Standalone Novels

Title Published Buy on Amazon
In the Country of Men 2006 Buy
Anatomy of a Disappearance 2011 Buy
My Friends 2024 Buy

Hisham Matar is a British-Libyan author born in New York City in 1970. He spent his childhood in Tripoli and Cairo before studying architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London. His father, a political dissident opposed to Muammar Qaddafi’s regime, was abducted in Cairo in 1990 and has never been found. That loss runs through everything Matar writes.

His debut novel In the Country of Men (2006) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book. His memoir The Return (2016) won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, the Folio Prize, and the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. His most recent novel, My Friends (2024), was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Across both fiction and non-fiction, Matar writes about exile, displacement, and the way political violence reshapes private lives.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books has Hisham Matar written?

Hisham Matar has written 5 books across 2 series.

What was Hisham Matar's first book?

Hisham Matar’s first book is In the Country of Men, published in 2006.

What is Hisham Matar best known for?

Hisham Matar is best known for his memoir The Return (2016), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography. The book chronicles his journey back to Libya to search for his disappeared father, who was abducted by the Qaddafi regime in 1990.

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