Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.
Award-winning author and playwrightAyad Akhtargrapples with identity and belonging just like the protagonist in his bookHomeland Elegies. “In some ways being an outsider has given me a freedom to be able to withstand and bear some of the forced outsiderness. It gives me a perspective,” he says. His fictional book, named one of the 10 Best Books of the Year by theNew York Times, draws from Akhtar’s personal experiences and the political climate in the United States. Through the story of an immigrant father and his son, the book responds to issues of our time like the rise of Donald Trump and the spread of Xenophobia. Akhtar talks withWashington Postbook criticRon Charlesabout the novel.
This discussion was part of the Winter Words author series fromAspen Words, a program of the Aspen Institute.View a videoof the conversation.
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