Our World Adrift: Amin Maalouf

Amin Maalouf and Gregory McCormick

Our World Adrift: Amin Maalouf

Amin Maalouf and Gregory McCormick

11:00am ET

Saturday, October 31, 2020

45 mins

Settle in for an afternoon of societal intrigue with Lebanese-French author and scholar Amin Maalouf. Maalouf is an award-winning author of novels and librettos, exploring the themes of war and identity. Among his awards: the prestigious Prix Goncourt for his novel The Rock of Tanios. Today he discusses his latest book, Adrift: How Our World Lost Its Way. Maalouf will trace how civilizations have drifted apart throughout the 20th century and now lack the solidarity to address global threats to humankind. Mixing personal narrative and historical analysis, he will provide a thoughtful warning signal for the future.

Interviewer: Gregory McCormick

English captioning is available for this video. Please click the ‘CC’ button in the video toolbar to turn it on.

Settle in for an afternoon of societal intrigue with Lebanese-French author and scholar Amin Maalouf. Maalouf is an award-winning author of novels and librettos, exploring the themes of war and identity. Among his awards: the prestigious Prix Goncourt for his novel The Rock of Tanios. Today he discusses his latest book, Adrift: How Our World Lost Its Way. Maalouf will trace how civilizations have drifted apart throughout the 20th century and now lack the solidarity to address global threats to humankind. Mixing personal narrative and historical analysis, he will provide a thoughtful warning signal for the future.

Interviewer: Gregory McCormick

English captioning is available for this video. Please click the ‘CC’ button in the video toolbar to turn it on.

Featured Authors

Amin Maalouf
Amin Maalouf was born in Beirut. He studied economics and sociology and then worked as an international reporter until the Lebanese Civil War broke out in 1975. Maalouf and his family decided to leave their country and settled in Paris in 1976, where he became editor in chief for the newspaper Jeune Afrique. He published his first book, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, in 1983. In 1993, The Rock of Tanios, his fifth novel, won the Prix Goncourt, the most prestigious literary award in France. Maalouf is a member of the Académie Française and in 2010 was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature for his entire oeuvre. His work has been translated into 50 languages and his most recent bestselling novel to be published in English is The Disoriented.

Read more about Amin Maalouf

Gregory McCormick
Gregory McCormick is the Manager of Cultural and Literary Programming at Toronto Public Library, the largest urban library system in the world. After finishing a master’s degree in literature from Université de Montréal, he served for six years as Director of Programming for Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival. Originally from the USA, he has lived in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Grenoble and Buenos Aires. He divides his time between Toronto and Montreal.

Read more about Gregory McCormick

11:00am ET

Saturday, October 31, 2020

45 mins

What to read

Adrift: How Our World Lost Its Way by ,
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