The book of sands by karim alrawi cover image from the star published in 2015 by harperavenue, a harpercollins imprint, this novel, set during the arab spring protests, portrays just about every ill human beings are heir to. He has taught at universities in the uk, egypt, us and canada. Before teaching theatre in the us and then settling his family in canada, alrawi was dramaturge at the royal court theatre in london and taught at the american university in cairo. Winner of the harpercollins canada prize for best new fiction. The links will take you to the web sites home page. It will be released on september 1, 2015 and were delighted to feature the book s new trailer. He went to school in england and after graduation he worked as a writer at several theatres including the royal court theatre and the theatre royal stratford east. Book of sands karim alrawi hardcover harpercollins canada. Although the book of sands is set against the backdrop of. Alrawi graduated from university college london and the university o. The inaugural winner of the harpercollinsubc prize for best new fiction.
Alrawi, now a vancouverite, was born in alexandria, egypt but his descriptions of the lingering acrid smell of tear gas can only mean he has been inspired by events at tahrir square. Karim alrawis novel is a book i decided to read when i heard the author speak at southbank two summers ago. The book of sands by karim alrawi karim alrawis novel is a book i decided to read when i heard the author speak at southbank two summers ago. Book of sands is subtitled a novel of the arab uprising. The inaugural winner of the harpercollinsubc prize for best new fiction in the. Karim alrawis book of sands is part of a wave of books telling stories of their countries through the perspective of ordinary people, helping to. The first pages are beautiful and engaging, and theres something so poetic about how theyre written but after 110 pages, the writing style felt. Karim alrawi excerpt from the novel book of sands chapter 1. As i was considering the title, i thought it had to be a reference to jorge luis. A powerful, lyrical novel of the endurance of love, set amid the uphe. He was an international writing fellow at the university of iowa and taught creative writing at the universitys international writing program.