Mohsin Hamid—'Discontent and Its Civilizations' [SOLD OUT]
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The internationally bestselling Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid now brings together a selection of his nonfiction, written from vantage points in New York, London, and Lahore, where he has variously lived over 15 years, in the provocatively entitled collection Discontent and Its Civilizations. Subtitled Dispatches from Lahore, New York, and London, these collected essays reflect on life, art, and politics from 2000-2014, with musings on topics ranging from writing, migration, fatherhood, and the Pakistan arts scene to drones, religion, war, and being regularly stopped at airports. Whether Hamid is discussing courtship rituals or pop culture, drones or the rhythms of daily life in an extended family compound, he transports us beyond the scarifying headlines of an anxious West and a volatile East, beyond stereotype and assumption, and helps to bring a dazzling diverse global culture within emotional and intellectual reach. In conversation with Dr. Azra Raza. Followed by a book sale and signing.
"Mohsin Hamid is a master critic of the modern global condition, using humanization, wit, parody, and other devices to examine how the fast pace of social and economic change has affected the individual" — Foreign Policy
AsiaSociety.org interview with Mohsin Hamid
Mohsin Hamid is the author of three novels, Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, and a book of essays, Discontent and Its Civilizations. His writing has been featured on bestseller lists, adapted for the cinema, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, selected as winner or finalist of 20 awards, and translated into more than 30 languages. Born in Lahore, he has spent about half his life there and much of the rest in London, New York, and California.
Dr. Azra Raza is an oncologist, scientist, Professor of Medicine and Director of the MDS Center at Columbia University. She was born in Pakistan and is devoted to both classical and contemporary Pakistani literature. She is the co-author of Ghalib: Epistemologies of Elegance, a book on the works of the famous Urdu poet. The recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Raza has been named as one of the '100 Women Who Matter' by Newsweek Pakistan.
This program is part of Asia Society's ongoing initiative Creative Voices of Muslim Asia.
Community outreach partners:
American Pakistan Foundation
Asian American Writers' Workshop (AAWW)
Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC)
SAJA (South Asian Journalists Association)