Simon Fraser University Library is pleased to announce this year's pick for One Book One SFU: Elamin Abdelmahmoud's memoir Son of Elsewhere.
Join us on January 26, 2023, at 7pm PT, for a free event featuring Elamin in conversation with author Jen Sookfong Lee.
About the book
"It is astounding how accurately and honestly Elamin Abdelmahmoud manages to map the strange territory between cultures that so many migrants call home. The interlinked essays in this collection, which filter the immigrant experience through everything from country music to professional-wrestling fan fiction, manage to pull off a rare trick—at once sincere, ironic, hilarious, and profound. Son of Elsewhere is the sort of book that can only come from a writer both incisive and open-hearted. Abdelmahmoud, to our great fortune, is both." -- Omar El Akkad, author of What Strange Paradise
"His writing feels like a magic trick: every page is charming, funny, and yet painful, a collection that presses on your most tender feelings like a bruise yet to heal. Son of Elsewhere is a salve." -- Scaachi Koul, author of One Day We’ll All Be Dead And None Of This Will Matter
Read the book: Son of Elsewhere is available for borrowing at all three branches of SFU Library.
About the speakers
Elamin Abdelmahmoud
Elamin Abdelmahmoud is a culture writer for BuzzFeed News and host of CBC’s pop culture show Pop Chat, and author of the bestselling memoir Son of Elsewhere. He was a founding co-host of the CBC Politics podcast Party Lines, and he is a contributor to The National’s At Issue panel. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Globe and Mail, and others. When he gets a chance, he writes bad tweets.
Jen Sookfong Lee
Jen Sookfong Lee was born and raised in Vancouver’s East Side, and she now lives with her son in North Burnaby. Her books include The Conjoined, nominated for International Dublin Literary Award and a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, The Better Mother, a finalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award, The End of East, The Shadow List, and Finding Home. Her most recent book, Superfan, is a memoir that explores her lifetime obsession with pop culture. Jen acquires and edits for ECW Press and co-hosts the literary podcast, Can’t Lit.