Hisham Matar wins the Ondaatje Prize

LIBYAN NOVELIST Hisham Matar has won the 4th Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize with his first novel, In the Country of Men (Viking, 2006), a story of love, betrayal and powerlessness set in Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya. He was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction and the Guardian First Book Award in 2006. The Ondaatje Prize is an award for a book of fiction, non-fiction or poetry which best evokes the spirit of a place.

Hisham Matar was born in New York City in 1970 to Libyan parents and spent his childhood in Tripoli and Cairo. He has lived in the U.K. since 1986. His first novel, In the Country of Men, is published in the U.K. by Viking.

Past Recipients
2007 In the Country of Men / Hisham Matar
2006 The People’s Act of Love / James Meek
2005 The Places In Between / Rory Stewart
2004 Hearing Birds Fly / Louisa Waugh