Algerian-born Amara Lakhous, author of five novels including "Divorce Islamic Style" and "A Dispute over an Very Italian Piglet," will visit Franklin & Marshall College April 1 to give a public reading of his works and a lecture on "Writing, Humor and Immigration."
"Lakhous is one of a number of important foreign-born and second-generation Italian writers who are changing the landscape of Italian literature to reflect the realities of an increasingly diverse nation," said Associate Professor of Italian Giovanna Faleschini Lerner. "In his novels, Lakhous uses humor to explore the challenges of displacement and alienation, discrimination or outright rejection, which migrants regularly face in Italy and elsewhere."
After he moved to Italy in 1995, Lakhous attended the University of Rome La Sapienza and completed a doctoral dissertation titled “Living Islam as a Minority.” His most acclaimed work is 2008's "Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio." Europa Editions will publish his last novel, "The Prank of the Good Little Virgin in Via Ormea," in English in May.
Lakhous will read at 4:30 p.m. April 1 in the Great Room of Ware College House. A reception will follow.