The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) has announced its finalists for the publishing year 2024, marking the 50th anniversary of the prestigious literary awards. Among the distinguished honorees is Hisham Matar, the American-born British-Libyan author and Pulitzer Prize winner, whose novel, My Friends has been named a finalist in the Fiction category.
My Friends delves into the lives of three Libyan men living in exile in London, bound together by their shared experiences of displacement and the lingering shadows of Gaddafi’s regime. The novel is a meditation on friendship, memory, and the ways in which political upheaval shapes individual lives. Matar’s ability to weave intimate personal narratives with broader historical and political contexts has earned him widespread acclaim, with critics lauding the novel as “a testament to the resilience of the human spirit” and “a masterful exploration of exile and belonging.”
Selected among other authors from over 11 categories, Hisham Matar’s own life has deeply influenced his writing. Born in New York City to Libyan parents and raised in Tripoli and Cairo, Matar’s family was forced into exile due to his father’s opposition to Gaddafi’s regime. His father, Jaballa Matar, a prominent dissident, was kidnapped in Cairo in 1990 and forcibly returned to Libya, where he was imprisoned and ultimately disappeared. This personal history infuses Matar’s work with a profound sense of urgency, authenticity and sends in a spark to the readers who are the literary critics of every novel
His previous books, including In the Country of Men (shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize) and The Return (winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography), have established him as a leading voice in literature, blending memoir, fiction, and political commentary to explore the complexities of loss, identity, and the search for home.
The NBCC Awards, founded in 1974, are among the most prestigious literary honors in the United States, uniquely selected by a jury of working critics and book review editors. Matar’s nomination for My Friends places him among a cohort of writers who, as Partington stated, “stand shoulder to shoulder with NBCC honorees of the past 50 years.” His work exemplifies the NBCC’s mission to celebrate literature that “communicates indispensable truths” and challenges readers to confront the complexities of the human condition.
The winners will be announced at an award ceremony that will take place on March 20, 2025, at The New School in New York City, and will be free and open to the public.
Click here to see the full list of all 2024 NBCC finalists
Congratulations Hisham Matar!
Bakare Oluwatobiloba
I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!
