Riad Sattouf's (@RiadSattouf) graphic novel series The Arab of the Future tells the unforgettable story of his childhood, spent in the shadows of three dictators – Muammar Gaddafi, Hafez al-Assad, and his father -  revealing the inner workings of a tormented country and a tormented family, taking in the sweep of Middle Eastern politics of the 1980s, the ascendency of religion, and the persistence of poverty.  

In conversation with best-selling author Kamila Shamsie, Riad Sattouf recounts his nomadic childhood growing up in rural France, Gaddafi's Libya, and Assad's Syria – but always under the roof of his father, a Syrian Pan-Arabist who drags his family along in his pursuit of grandiose dreams for the Arab nation. 

Riad Sattouf is a bestselling cartoonist and filmmaker who grew up in Syria and Libya and now lives in Paris. The author of four comics series in France and a former contributor to the satirical publicationCharlie Hebdo, Sattouf is now a weekly columnist for l'Obs. He also directed the films The French Kissers (winner of a César Award for Best First Film) and Jacky in the Women's Kingdom. The Arab of the Future - which was awarded the Fauve d'Or Prize for Best Album of the Year at the Angoulême International Comics Festival and has been translated into sixteen languages - is his first work to appear in English.

Kamila Shamsie (@kamilashamsie) is the author of six novels, most recently A God in Every Stone, which was shortlisted for the Baileys Prize, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Three of her novels have received awards from Pakistan's Academy of Letters. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and in 2013 was named a Granta Best of Young British Novelist. She grew up in Karachi and now lives in London.

Just economics and politics? Think again. While LSE does not teach arts or music, there is a vibrant cultural side to the School - from weekly free music concerts in the Shaw Library, and an LSE orchestra and choir with their own professional conductors, various film, art and photographic student societies, the annual LSE photo prize competition, the LSE Literary Festival and artist-in-residence projects. For more information please view the LSE Arts website.  

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Podcast

A podcast of this event is available to download from Arab Dreams: growing up in the shadow of dictators

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