Homeland Elegies
Novel by Ayad AkhtarWikipedia
28
MENTIONS
8
EPISODES
8
PODCASTS
Search complete. 28 mentions across 8 episodes found for "Homeland Elegies".
Oct 2, 2026
Cassie McCulloughHOST
Yeah, so he's an American playwright and novelist who's sort of slipped under our radar, but he's pretty well-loved and prolific in a way.
Cassie McCulloughHOST
His Muslim Pakistani heritage, second novel, Homeland Elegies, won awards for its exploration of what it means to be Muslim and American.
Cassie McCulloughHOST
But, Tom, he's also won a Pulitzer Prize for his playwriting.
Cassie McCulloughHOST
Yeah.
Miwa MesserHOST
Third novel, The Radiance.
Miwa MesserHOST
Not what I was expecting on the ends of Homeland Elegies.
Miwa MesserHOST
So, and by that, all I mean is, you know Homeland Elegies is a book I hold tight.
Miwa MesserHOST
Like, I love, love that book.
Miwa MesserHOST
And 2020 was, you know, a million years ago.
Miwa MesserHOST
But the silence, okay, when I think of you, when I think of the stage work and also the novels, I think of you in dialogue, right? Dialogue is the thing that you have always done exceptionally well.
Miwa MesserHOST
And silence becomes part of the dialogue here.
Miwa MesserHOST
And that was new for me reading you where I was like, We've got this narrator, this Ayad, very different from the earlier Ayad of Homeland Elegies.
Ayad AkhtarGUEST
I started paying attention to my dreams in my very, very early 20s in college and then right out of college.
Ayad AkhtarGUEST
And I, like the narrator in this book and in the narrator of my previous book, Homeland Elegies, For a few years, I slept with a pencil tied to my finger with a notepad next to my bed.
Ayad AkhtarGUEST
And I would wake up every 45 minutes and write down whatever was going on.
Ayad AkhtarGUEST
Got to the point that I did this for about three or four years.
Tess CallahanHOST
His work has been published and performed in over two dozen languages.
Tess CallahanHOST
He is the author of the novels American Dervish and Homeland Elegies, which the New York Times named one of the best books of 2020.
Tess CallahanHOST
As a playwright, his credits include McNeil, Junk, Disgraced, The Who and the What, and The Invisible Hand, several of which have played on Broadway and earned Tony nominations.
Tess CallahanHOST
He was named the New York State Author in 2021 and served as President of Pan America from 2021 to 2023.
12 MINS LATER
Tess CallahanHOST
Very delicious.
Tess CallahanHOST
Beautiful.
Tess CallahanHOST
So for our listeners who are not familiar with autofiction, so as in your earlier novels, American Dervish and Homeland Elegies, your main character here is Ayad.
Ayad AkhtarGUEST
And
Tess CallahanHOST
His work has been published and performed in over two dozen languages.
Tess CallahanHOST
He is the author of the novels American Dervish and Homeland Elegies, which the New York Times named one of the best books of 2020.
Tess CallahanHOST
As a playwright, his credits include McNeil, Junk, Disgraced, The Who and the What, and The Invisible Hand, several of which have played on Broadway and earned Tony nominations.
Tess CallahanHOST
He was named the New York State Author in 2021 and served as president of Pan America from 2021 to 2023.
12 MINS LATER
Tess CallahanHOST
Very delicious.
Tess CallahanHOST
Beautiful.
Tess CallahanHOST
So for our listeners who are not familiar with autofiction, so as in your earlier novels, American Dervish and Homeland Elegies, your main character here is Ayad.
Tess CallahanHOST
And he has your name, your occupation, your preoccupations.
David BrooksHOST
Ayad Akhtar is one of America's leading playwrights and writers.
David BrooksHOST
His plays, like The Disgraced, which won a Pulitzer Prize, and his earlier novels, including Homeland Elegies, often describe what it's like to be a Muslim American in the post 9/11 era.
David BrooksHOST
His characters, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, are often coping with rage, pressure, resentments, hostility, a feeling of being judged.
David BrooksHOST
His new novel, The Radiance, is about a man whose spiritual state is transformed, who begins to radiate a glow which emerges from a kind of inner illumination.
Nathan MaharajHOST
Tell me about the radiance by Ayad Akhtar.
Deandra LalondeGUEST
Yeah, so he was the author of Homeland Elegies that people might be familiar with.
Deandra LalondeGUEST
And this one follows a writer after a hit and run accident.
Deandra LalondeGUEST
And it's kind of about, again, it was one where I was like really trying to dig into it.
Nathan MaharajHOST
Tell me about the radiance by Ayad Akhtar.
Deandra LalondeGUEST
Yeah, so he was the author of Homeland Elegies that people might be familiar with.
Deandra LalondeGUEST
And this one follows a writer after a hit and run accident.
Deandra LalondeGUEST
And it's kind of about, again, it was one where I was like really trying to dig into it.