Laila Lalami is a literary evangelist. If she's not working on her second novel, writing her literary blog, or giving away books, she's on the road talking about her current novel Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits and her forthcoming novel. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting her briefly and hearing her read this evening at Olsson's Books and Records in Washington, D.C.
One of Ms. Lalami's dreams is to bring her first novel to the people of her native land — Morocco — in their native Moroccan dialect, Darija. To date, no publisher has even agreed to translate the book even into the more widespread, but less accessible classical Arabic that is the traditional language of literature and public life. Ms. Lalami hopes to translate her book into Darija during her forthcoming Fulbright fellowship in Morocco beginning this December.
Ms. Lalami addressed a wide range of questions, from the challenges of working as an Arab author in America, to the audience she writes for, to her literary influences and writing technique. She explained that fiction is often a better vehicle for arriving at the truth than the kind of sensationalized non-fiction that makes up the contemporary news. As a Arab writer, it can be difficult for her to be seen as airing the community's "dirty laundry" sometimes, particularly since she is deeply indignant about the way in which Arabs are so often misrepresented in contemporary America. And while she feels an obligation to feed the hungry minds of the 15,000 visitors to her website every day, ultimately she writes her books for herself alone. Otherwise, she said, she would always be censoring herself, if she thought about what other people would think, and that would betray her central mission — to write the truth.