Arts & Letters: Laila Lalami

Arts & Letters is a free series that invites the community to spend time with today's most influential authors. This season features three UCR writing instructors and one MFA student to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the low-residency MFA program. Pulitzer Prize nominee Laila Lalami is the author of the novels, "Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits," which was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award; "Secret Son," which was on the Orange Prize longlist; and "The Moor's Account," which won the American Book Award, the Arab American Book Award, and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, made the Man Booker Prize longlist and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her latest novel, "The Other Americans," was published this month to rave reviews.