Panel Discussion: Laila Lalami’s Pulitzer finalist novel, "The Moor’s Account"
Commentary presented by Miriam Gershow, Novelist & Associate Director of Composition, Department of English
I come to The Moor’s Account as a novelist, so my expertise is in fiction writing. What I’m most interested in is the part of the story that was not shaped by the historical record but instead came straight from Laila Lalami’s imagination—Mustafa’s back story and characterization, and how it undergirds the larger structure of the book. In this scene, we have the start of a series of choices that will lead to Mustafa’s slavery. We have a character who turns away from family and tradition and spirituality.