Writer’s Voice: Mohsin Hamid, THE LAST WHITE MAN & Omar El Akkad, WHAT STRANGE PARADISE
Summary: Mohsin Hamid tells us about his fable of race and humanity, where white people suddenly turn brown. It’s called The Last White Man.<br> Then Omar El Akkad talks about his novel What Strange Paradise. It’s about what happens when a Syrian refugee, a young boy, washes up on a Greek island.<br> Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on your favorite podcast app! It really helps others find our show.<br> And like us on Facebook at <a href="https://twitter.com/writersvoice?lang=en">Writers Voice Radio</a> or find us on Twitter <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WritersVoiceRadio/">@WritersVoice</a>.<br> <br> Mohsin Hamid<br> What would it be like if white people lost their whiteness—not just the privilege that comes with whiteness, but the skin color itself? How would they deal with a world where, all of a sudden, they woke up brown?<br> That’s the device at the heart of Mohsin Hamid’s novel The Last White Man. It’s a kind of fable that examines what happens when the social construction of race falls away to reveal our fundamental humanity.<br> Mohsin Hamid is the author of five novels, including Exit West and The Reluctant Fundamentalist.<br> <a href="https://scroll.in/article/1030517/mohsin-hamids-new-novel-what-happens-when-a-white-mans-skin-suddenly-turns-dark">Read an Excerpt from The Last White Man</a><br> Omar El Akkad<br> The world was shocked when two year old <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death%5C_of%5C_Alan%5C_Kurdi">Alan Kurdi’s body washed up</a> on a Turkish beach in 2015 after he and his family fled from Syria. Then, the world seemed to forget.<br> But the drownings continue—more than 3,200 died or went missing crossing the Mediterranean for Europe just in 2021.<br> Omar El Akkad’s new novel What Strange Paradise tells the story of a Syrian child migrant who is washed up on a Greek Island. The novel follows him as he revives and is then befriended by a local girl who hides him and tries to get him to a transit point where he can travel to safe harbor.<br> What Strange Paradise asks hard questions about how those who are privileged discount others and hide from our common humanity.<br> Omar El Akkad is a journalist and author of the bestselling novel, American War. He is an award-winning journalist and worked as a war correspondent reporting from Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and many other locations around the world.<br> <br>
