James Michelin Distinguished Visitors Program

Born and raised in Morocco, Laila Lalami is the award-winning author of numerous essays and books, including Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (2005), Secret Son (2009), and The Moor's Account (2014), a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Praised as "mesmerizing" (Los Angeles Times) and "brilliantly imagined" (Salman Rushie), Lalami's work navigates past and present Arab worlds, exploring questions of belonging, displacement, history, and identity.

She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Book Award and the Arab American Book Award, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Newsweek, among other publications. She teaches creative writing at the University of California at Riverside.

This event is free and open to the public, with no tickets or reservations required.