Hisham Matar was born in
New York City in 1970, the son of Jaballa Matar, who was considered a
political dissident for his opinions on Colonel
Muammar Qaddafi's
1969 coup, and had to move the family away from
Tripoli. He was working for the Libyan delegation to the
United Nations, in
New York, at the time of Matar's birth. The family moved back to Tripoli in 1973, but fled the country again in 1979. Matar was nine when they moved to
Cairo, Egypt, where the family lived in exile from 1980, and where Matar's father became more vocal against the Gaddafi regime. He did not enjoy his schooling there, and his academic achievements plunged compared with his time in Libyan and Egyptian public schools. He struggled with learning English, until he discovered a love for
Billie Holiday, and also felt no affinity for his fellow students, most of whom were the offspring of American diplomats and military personnel. In 1982, Matar's brother Ziad left for boarding school in the
Swiss Alps. Though Matar desperately wanted to join his brother, he had to wait four more years until he too was 16. Because of the continued threats by the Libyan dictatorship against their father (as well as a threat to Ziad's safety while he was studying in Switzerland), however, he could not follow his brother to Switzerland. Both boys had to attend the schools under a false identity. Matar chose a school in England and enrolled in 1986,I was to pretend that my mother was Egyptian and my father American. It was thought that this would explain, to any Arabs in the school, why my Arabic was Egyptian and why my English was American. My first name was Bob. Ziad chose it because both he and I were fans of
Bob Marley and
Bob Dylan. I was to pretend I was Christian, though not religious. I was to try to forget my name. If someone called Hisham, I was not to turn. After trying his hand at music and finding that he had no talent for it, ==Career==