Ayad Akhtar in Conversation with Eleanor Wachtel

Books & Ideas Audio

“The weight of politics in our country had coalesced and summoned a response out of me,” said Ayad Akhtar, the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Pakistani American novelist, playwright and screenwriter explained of his latest work, Homeland Elegies. Is it, he wondered, possible to write a letter to America in such a time—a letter to all Americans? Judging by the acclaim for this title, the answer is Yes. The story of the son of an immigrant father who searches for belonging in post-Trump America has been called “a revelation,” “profound and provocative” and “An unflinchingly honest self-portrait by a brilliant Muslim-American writer,” and the list continues. CBC Writers and Company host, Eleanor Wachtel, speaks to Akhtar about the unflinching honesty in this partly autobiographical work; the “casino” that is American life; and the consequences of everyone becoming a storyteller in the era of social media.