Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar reads from his novel 'The Radiance', followed by a conversation with Hosam Aboul-Ela, a book sale and signing.
Ayad Akhtar reads from his new novel The Radiance at the Alley Theatre on Monday, October 5, at 7:30 PM. The reading is part of the 2026/2027 Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series, and it doesn't stop with the reading: Akhtar will stay on stage for a conversation led by University of Houston professor Hosam Aboul-Ela, and the night wraps with a book sale and signing.
If you're not familiar with Akhtar, he's a Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama for his play Disgraced, which also earned a Tony nomination for Best Play. His work as a novelist and playwright has been published and performed in more than two dozen languages. He's the author of the novels American Dervish, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year, and Homeland Elegies, and in 2021 he was named the New York State Author by the New York State Writers Institute, succeeding Colson Whitehead. The Radiance is his latest, and it was named one of the New York Times' "Novels Everyone Will Be Talking About in 2026."
Leading the conversation is Hosam Aboul-Ela, a writer, translator, and literary critic born in Alexandria, Egypt, who teaches English at the University of Houston. He's written for the Huffington Post, Words without Borders, NPR, Jadaliyya, the Houston Chronicle, and the New York Times Magazine. Between the reading and the conversation, you'll get to hear the new material and then hear the author talk through it with someone who knows the landscape. The book sale and signing follow, so you can pick up a copy and get it signed before you head home.
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The reading is at the Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Avenue, Houston, TX 77002, starting at 7:30 PM on Monday, October 5.
