RECORDED 1/21/15: I was excited to talk with award-winning writer Laila Lalami.  I met Laila in 2004 at the Tin House Writers’ Conference.  I think it wasn’t long after that conference she landed her first book deal and went on to publish her work to great acclaim.  She’s just published her third book, The Moor’s Account, which is getting great reviews and buzz.  I talked with her about her book and what the Mixed experience means to her.  You can listen to the episode here or download it on iTunes.–Heidi Durrow

Laila Lalami was born and raised in Morocco. She attended Université Mohammed-V in Rabat, University College in London, and the University of Southern California, where she earned a Ph.D. in linguistics. She is the author of the short story collection Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, which was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award, and the novel Secret Son, which was on the Orange Prize longlist. Her essays and opinion pieces have appeared in Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, The Nation, the Guardian, the New York Times, and in numerous anthologies. Her work has been translated into ten languages. She is the recipient of a British Council Fellowship, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Lannan Foundation Residency Fellowship and is currently an associate professor of creative writing at the University of California at Riverside. Her new novel, The Moor’s Account, was published in Fall 2014.