Several readers have emailed to ask me about Alaa Al-Aswany’s The Yacoubian Building, and whether it lives up to the hype surrounding it (best-selling novel in the Arab world, major motion picture, paperback rights to Harper Collins, etc.), but I haven’t yet gotten to the novel. In the meantime, here’s a Cairene blogger’s take on it.
Who is Laila Lalami
Laila Lalami is the award winning and best selling author of six books.
What books has Laila Lalami written?
Laila has written the novels, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, Secret Son, The Moor's Account, The Other Americans, and The Dream Hotel.
What awards has Laila Lalami won?
Laila Lalami has won the American Book Award, the Arab American Book Award, the Hurston-Write Legacy Award, a Guggenheim a Harvard Radcliffe Fellowship, and a British Council Fellowship. Her work has also been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Booker Prize, the Women's Prize, and the Edgar Allan Poe Award.