Hisham Matar: I learned English by listening to Jane Austen audiobooks'

My earliest reading memory is intertwined with The Arabian Nights, where I first understood storytelling as a means to postpone death, revealing the power of narrative.

At 13, I encountered Badr Shakir al-Sayyab's Rain Song, and though I didn't fully understand, it unveiled the transformative power of language and literature's duality.

Reading Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises in my mid-20s made me want to write, as his short sentences are deceptively simple yet full of depth and vulnerability.

Learning English through Jane Austen's audiobooks was a challenging yet enlightening experience. Returning to Persuasion years later felt like reconnecting with an old friend.

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