About American Writers’ Week: Rabih Alameddine
Rabih Alameddine won the 2025 US National Book Award for fiction for his buoyant and camp seventh novel The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother). Told by A 63-year-old gay philosophy teacher and drag entertainer living in Beirut, it is set against the backdrop of the modern history of Lebanon from the civil war to the port explosion in 2020. It is a queer coming-of-age tale, an exploration of the bond between a mother and a son, and a meditation on storytelling, memory, survival and what it means to be truly free.
'Poignant but never cynical, often dark but never dour, wise without being showy and always eager to crack a joke, this is a novel that insists that the pain of the past need overwhelm neither present nor narrative, identity nor personality. With Sartre as his guide, and a drag fabulousness all his own, Raja shows us how.' (The Guardian).
Part of the British Library’s American Writers’ Week (28 September – 2 November 2026), presented in association with Festival America, Vincennes, France. Participating writers include Alison Bechdel, Armistead Maupin, Daniel Kraus, Jeanine Cummins, Joyce Carol Oates, Katie Kitamura and Rabih Alameddine and Viet Thanh Nguyen.
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Rabih Alameddine
Rabih Alameddine is a painter and author.
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Born in Amman, Jordan to Lebanese parents, he grew up in Kuwait and Lebanon, lived in England, then moved to the US. His acclaimed novel The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (And His Mother) won the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction, which Publishers Weekly called 'a ravishing performance'. His other books include Comforting Myths: Concerning the Political in Art (2024), and six critically acclaimed novels, including The Wrong End of the Telescope (2021), winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award; The Angel of History (2016); An Unnecessary Woman (2014), finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, winner of the California Book Award; The Hakawati (2008); I, The Divine (W.W. Norton, 2001); and Koolaids (1998). He is also the author of a book of short stories, The Perv (1999). A painter as well as an author, he has had solo gallery exhibitions in cities throughout the United States, Europe and the Middle East. He divides his time between San Francisco and Beirut.
Venue and bar opening times
This event will take place in the British Library Knowledge Centre and is also available to watch online. Tickets may be booked to attend in person, or to watch online.
If you are attending in person, please note that the Knowledge Centre and the bar will be open in advance of your event.
Please arrive no later than 15 minutes before the start time of this event. If you have specific access requirements please email customer@bl.uk
Attending the event online
If you book an online ticket, you will receive the viewing link on the morning of the event. You can either watch the event live or during the next 14 days on catch up.
Concessions
There are a range of concessions available. These include discounts for British Library Members, Young Persons (16 – 25s), and visitors on Universal/Pension Credit and free entry for carers.
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