CLEVELAND: Mohsin Hamid will speak about his Anisfield-Wolf Award-winning book The Reluctant Fundamentalist at noon on Friday, September 12, 2008, at The City Club of Cleveland.
The main character in Hamid’s book, Changez, is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite valuation firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his budding romance with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore.
But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned and his relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love.
Mohsin Hamid grew up in Lahore, Pakistan, and attended Princeton and Harvard. His first novel, Moth Smoke, was a Betty Trask Award winner, a PEN/Hemingway Award finalist, and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His writing has also appeared in Time, the New York Times, and other publications. He lives in London.
This Friday Forum is in partnership with the Cleveland Foundation.
Tickets are $18 for members and $30 for non-members. Lunch is included. They can be purchased by calling The City Club at 216.621.0082 or visiting the website at: www.cityclub.org.
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