The Moment Gaddafi Kidnapped My Father, I, Too, Became a Captive of My Anger ; Talking for the First Time Since Being Shortlisted for the Booker, London Author Hisham Matar Reveals How His Fight to Free His Father Inspired His Acclaimed Novel

Summary

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WHEN Hisham Matar found out that the novel he'd been writing for the past five years had finally been accepted by a publisher, he was sitting with his landlord pleading for more time to pay the rent on his tiny Hammersmith flat.

The publishing deal was big - six figures for two books - but Matar, 36, hadn't enough credit on his phone to call his wife and tell her. So the landlord did it for him.

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The Moment Gaddafi Kidnapped My Father, I, Too, Became a Captive of My Anger ; Talking for the First Time Since Being Shortlisted for the Booker, London Author Hisham Matar Reveals How His Fight to Free His Father Inspired His Acclaimed Novel

"There is a romantic idea that links writing with being under excruciating amounts of debt and not knowing whether, at any time, you're going to be evicted from your flat," Matar says now. "But, let me say, those things aren't romantic. It doesn't help writing at all. It makes writing very difficult."

When Matar discovered that his book, In the Country of Men, had made the Booker Prize shortlist last week, he had enough money, of course, to make hi...

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