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0120161003In this powerful memoir, Libyan novelist Hisham Matar describes the state of hope and grief he has endured in the two decades since his father, Jaballa, was kidnapped by Qaddafi's regime in 1990. Imprisoned and kept isolated from other prisoners, Jaballa managed to send only a handful of letters to his family before he disappeared without trace. To this day, no-one is sure what happened to him, although it is likely that he died in a massacre at Abu Salim prison in Tripoli in 1996.

Living in exile since the 1970s, Hisham returned to Libya for the first time in 2012, following the revolution that brought down Qaddafi and his regime. In beautiful language, he describes the difficult state of exile, its mix of guilt and pain, as well as the powerful meetings with his uncles and cousins, many of whom had also been imprisoned, and for whose release he campaigned tirelessly.

'You make a man disappear to silence him but also to narrow the minds of those left behind, to pervert their soul and limit their imagination. When Qaddafi took my father, he placed me in a space not much bigger than the cell Father was in. I paced back and forth, anger in one direction, hatred in the other, until I could feel my insides grow small and hard. And, because I was young, and hatred and anger are a young man's emotions, I tricked myself into thinking the transformation was good, that it was akin to progress, a sign of vigour and strength.'

The reader, Khalid Abdalla, is an actor and political activist who was born in Britain after his parents were forced to leave Egypt in the late 1970s - his father was a leading student activist there and was imprisoned several times.

Reader: Khalid Abdalla

Writer: Hisham Matar

Abridger: Anna Magnusson

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

Powerful memoir of hope and loss by the Booker Prize-nominated Libyan author Hisham Matar.

0220161004In this powerful memoir, Libyan novelist Hisham Matar describes the mix of hope and grief he has lived with in the two decades since his father, Jaballa, was kidnapped by Qaddafi's regime in 1990. Imprisoned and kept isolated from other prisoners, Jaballa managed to send only a handful of letters to his family before he disappeared without trace. To this day, no-one is sure what happened to him, although it is likely that he died in a massacre at Abu Salim prison in Tripoli in 1996.

Living in exile from his homeland since the 1970s, Hisham returned to Libya for the first time in 2012, following the revolution that brought down Qaddafi and his regime. Amongst the joy of being reunited with his extended family, many of whom had also endured long imprisonment, was the growing acceptance of his father's death and unknown fate.

Reader: Khalid Abdalla

Writer: Hisham Matar

Abridger: Anna Magnusson

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

Hisham Matar's memoir of loss and exile. A football match unites his scattered family.

0320161005In the era of rolling news and social media connectedness, it's easy to become blas退 about world events and overlook their human cost. In this beautifully written memoir, Hisham Matar offers us a vivid and very moving account of what it's like to be swept up in a situation completely outwith your control and the ways in which it comes to define your life.

In 1990, Hisham Matar was nineteen when his father, a prominent critic of the Libyan regime, was kidnapped and taken to prison in Tripoli. He would never see him again. Two decades later, in 2012, after the fall of Qaddafi, Hisham was finally able to return to his homeland. He recounts his return to a country and a family he thought he would never see again and describes the pain of not knowing what happened to his father - it's likely that he died in a massacre at one of Qaddafi's cruellest prisons, Abu Salim in 1996, but he can find no-one able to say absolutely that he did. However, after the fall of the regime, prisons were liberated and the spark of hope that his father had somehow survived slowly petered out. He and his family must come to terms with the fact that they will never know what happened to him.

Reader: Khalid Abdalla

Writer: Hisham Matar

Abridger: Anna Magnusson

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

Khalid Abdalla reads from the powerful memoir by Libyan novelist Hisham Matar.

0420161006Beautifully written memoir by the Libyan author Hisham Matar. It's a vivid and very moving account of what it's like to be swept up in a situation completely outwith your control.

In 1990, Hisham Matar was nineteen when his father, a prominent critic of the Libyan regime, was kidnapped and taken to prison in Tripoli. He would never see him again. Two decades later, in 2012, after the fall of Qaddafi, Hisham returned to his homeland. He recounts his return to a country and a family he thought he would never see again and describes the pain of not knowing what happened to his father - it's likely that he died in a massacre at one of Qaddafi's cruellest prisons, Abu Salim in 1996, but he can find no-one able to say absolutely that he did. However, after the fall of the regime, prisons were liberated and the spark of hope that his father had somehow survived slowly petered out. He and his family must come to terms with the fact that they will never know what happened to him.

Reader: Khalid Abdalla

Writer: Hisham Matar

Abridger: Anna Magnusson

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

Hisham Matar's memoir detailing the search for his father, imprisoned by Gaddafi's regime.

05 LAST20161007The Libyan novelist Hisham Matar's powerful memoir is a vivid and very moving account of what it's like to be swept up in a situation completely outwith your control - and the ways in which it comes to define your life.

In 1990, Hisham Matar was nineteen when his father, an outspoken critic of the Libyan regime, was kidnapped and taken to prison in Tripoli. He would never see him again. Two decades later, in 2012, after the fall of Qaddafi, Hisham was finally able to return to his homeland after an exile of thirty years. He recounts his return to a country and a family he thought he would never see again and describes the pain of not knowing what happened to his father - it's likely that he died in a massacre at one of Qaddafi's cruellest prisons, Abu Salim in 1996, but he can find no-one able to say absolutely that he did. However, after the fall of the regime, prisons were liberated and the spark of hope that his father had somehow survived slowly petered out. He and his family must come to terms with the fact that they will never know what happened to him.

Reader: Khalid Abdalla

Writer: Hisham Matar

Abridger: Anna Magnusson

Producer: Kirsteen Cameron.

Hisham Matar meets Uncle Hmad, who witnessed the massacre at Abu Salim, Tripoli, in 1996.