Arab Dreams: growing up in the shadow of dictators [Audio]

Speaker(s): Riad Sattouf | Riad Sattouf's (@RiadSattouf) graphic novel series The Arab of the Future tells the unforgettable story of his childhood, spent in the shadows of three dictators – Muammar Gaddafi, Hafez al-Assad, and his father - revealing the inner workings of a tormented country and a tormented family, taking in the sweep of Middle Eastern politics of the 1980s, the ascendency of religion, and the persistence of poverty. In conversation with best-selling author Kamila Shamsie, Riad Sattouf recounts his nomadic childhood growing up in rural France, Gaddafi's Libya, and Assad's Syria – but always under the roof of his father, a Syrian Pan-Arabist who drags his family along in his pursuit of grandiose dreams for the Arab nation. Riad Sattouf is a bestselling cartoonist and filmmaker who grew up in Syria and Libya and now lives in Paris. The author of four comics series in France and a former contributor to the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo, Sattouf is now a weekly colu