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Laila Lalami
@lailalalami.com
6.6K followers 200 following 920 posts
Author of six books, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist THE MOOR’S ACCOUNT. Reader. Mutant. https://linktr.ee/lalami
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Laila Lalami @lailalalami.com · Aug 11
The Dream Hotel is now out in paperback! Read it, talk about it with your book group, ask for it at the library, add it to your syllabus, loan it to a friend, etc. I’m grateful for all of it.
A stack of books by Laila Lalami. From top to bottom: The Dream Hotel, Conditional Citizens, The Other Americans, The Moor’s Account, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, Secret Son.
lailalalami.com
People of Santa Fe! Come on out this Thursday 9/17 to hear me read from and talk about The Dream Hotel (now out in paperback)! 6 pm at Collected Works bookstore.
Flyer advertising Laila Lalami’s reading at Collected Works Bookstore in Santa Fe on 9/17
September 15, 2026 at 2:22 AM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
gillianbrockell.com
Glad folks are appalled by photos of the "phone booth" cage under an awning, but pls understand: This IG report is likely part of a cover-up.

Amnesty Int'l interviewed detainees EIGHT MONTHS AGO who said the cage was half this size (couldn't stand up), had no awning, w feet chained to the bottom.
September 14, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
davidmarcus.bsky.social
"The social contract is no longer working: Going to college does not ensure anything other than...often low-paying work."
@alexnpress.bsky.social in Fall Books on @noamscheiber.bsky.social's new book and the making of the millennial working class www.thenation.com/article/soci...
The Making of the Millennial Working Class
A new book follows a rising generation of labor organizers as they attempt to unionize their workplaces.
www.thenation.com
September 14, 2026 at 3:05 PM
lailalalami.com
I think this is right, and it's also *by design.*
mskellymhayes.bsky.social Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 2d
"An AI agent went rogue" also feels like a test drive for an era when no one is responsible for the worst things these products do. Seems like a standard that could be really convenient for certain governments.
September 14, 2026 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
prisonculture.bsky.social
Please say this 1000 times for the people in the back.
courtneymilan.com Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 3d
We are not going to get out of the fascism problem by accepting just enough fascism to turn the heads of the fascism-curious.
September 14, 2026 at 1:08 AM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
spectrumnewsny1.bsky.social
The last speaker at the 9/11 remembrance ceremony lost his father to the attacks.
September 11, 2026 at 5:30 PM
lailalalami.com
"'Never forget' became a rallying cry. I heard it chanted at vigils, walked past it graffitied on walls, saw it tattooed on the neck of a man waiting ahead of me in line at the grocery store." But what--and who--are we supposed to remember? Re-upping this piece:

www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/o...
In the United States, Sept. 11 led directly to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the passing of the Patriot Act, the Authorization for Use of Military Force, the use of warrantless surveillance programs, and special registration of immigrants and foreign students from Muslim countries. Outside the United States, the attacks served as justification for the 20-year war in Afghanistan; the invasion and occupation of Iraq; the indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay; the use of torture at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere; the killing of thousands of U.S. and foreign service members; the periodic bombing of Pakistan, Yemen, Syria and Somalia; the deaths of some 800,000 people, including 335,000 civilians; and the displacement of an estimated 38 million people. At each step in this parade of horrors, we were reminded that the United States was attacked on Sept. 11. The terrible wound of that day was left open, causing pain and anger that lasted for years. In that continually grieving state, the public was perhaps more willing to accept what it might not have otherwise — security theater at our airports, constant surveillance, bombs being dropped on wedding parties in Afghanistan. The fact that the United States itself went on to attack, and wreak even greater violence against innocent civilians around the world, was largely omitted from official narratives, as it was in the museum. This erasure is not accidental. After the initial phase of fighting, the Pentagon did not release regular and precise reports of civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We got out of the body count business years ago,” Mark Kimmitt, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general and former State Department official, said in But the erasure of the wars proved lucrative for some. The U.S. government outsourced almost every aspect of the war effort to private military contractors like KBR and Blackwater, including the housing, feeding and clothing of troops. Companies like Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin reaped tens of billions of dollars in profit. Waste and abuse were rampant. One study found that the U.S. Army had spent $119 million annually to lease 3,000 cars in Afghanistan, at a cost of $40,000 per car. Another investigation revealed that TransDigm, an aircraft parts supplier, had profit levels of as much as 4,000 percent on some spare parts. Even when the Pentagon’s internal auditors identified overcharges, the contracts were often paid out anyway. That Sept. 11 represented a chance to make a buck was not what most of us had in mind when we saw the tribute posters that went up shortly after the towers came down. But from the commercialization of the phrase “never forget,” which appears on pens, shirts, mugs and baby onesies, to the privatization of the war effort, which shifted billions of taxpayer dollars into corporate coffers, Sept. 11 became a business. The museum engages in this type of transaction as well. A cheese platter in the shape of the United States, with hearts marking the sites of the terrorist attacks, was removed from sale in 2014, after a public outcry at the vulgarity of the display. But the museum store continues to sell a variety of other items, including toy police cars.
September 11, 2026 at 5:43 PM
lailalalami.com
🚨🚨🚨Trump directed the crowd to raise their right hands and repeat: “I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the US, that loves us so much he can’t even breathe, that I will go out–I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try to cheat like hell like they do.” shorturl.at/nhAvu
‘I’m on the ticket’: Trump implores Republicans to vote in November at unusual midterm convention
The president demonised Democrats in an attempt to wangle votes in midterms despite backlash over Iran war
www.theguardian.com
September 11, 2026 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
prisonculture.bsky.social
In fact we were called actual terrorists not sympathizers...
geauxgabrielle.blacksky.app Gabrielle A. Perry, MPH @geauxgabrielle.blacksky.app · 6d
Everyone who was against the PATRIOT Act 20 years ago was called a terrorist sympathizer. Many don’t remember the world before it. Background checks didnt even exist the way they do now prior to it. The surveillance state became normal. Just like they said it would

All in the name of “anti-terror”
After 9/11, the U.S. built an anti-terror apparatus. Trump is using it at home. Waning attention to international terrorism and other threats has former officials worried.
September 10, 2026 at 9:41 PM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
nslayton.bsky.social
A few days ago someone armed with multiple weapons attacked a Democratic gubernatorial candidate
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d
somebody at the RNC yells death threats toward Abdul El-Sayed and Talarico as Cruz attacks them
September 10, 2026 at 10:23 PM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
booksandthearts.bsky.social
Fall Books Is here—Vivian Gornick on love and death in fiction, Osita Nwanevu on saving democracy, @lailalalami.com on Soraya Antonius's Palestine, @brucerobbins.bsky.social on the Bund, @alexnpress.bsky.social on millennial workers, Edna Bonhomme on Imani Thompson www.thenation.com/issue/octobe...
October 2026 Issue
The Nation Magazine
www.thenation.com
September 8, 2026 at 2:23 PM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
madridlitmag.bsky.social
Meriem Essaoudy explores what lies behind migration statistics through Laila Lalami’s Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits: four lives, four journeys, no simple answers.
themadridreview.substack.com/p/beyond-the...
@arablit.bsky.social @lailalalami.com @algonquinbooks.bsky.social #arabliterature #Ceuta
Beyond the Numbers: Laila Lalami and the Human Cost of Migration
What Laila Lalami’s ‘Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits’ reveals about migration, belonging, and the human stories behind the numbers. By Meriem Essaoudy.
themadridreview.substack.com
September 9, 2026 at 4:01 AM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
lailalalami.com
I wrote about Palestine in the interwar period, British colonial rule, the dispossessed farmers and underpaid workers it created, and the Rebellion of 1936, which serves as backdrop for Susan Antonius’s The Lord and Anne Marie Jacir's Palestine 36. Take a look! www.thenation.com/article/worl...
The Palestines of Soraya Antonius and Annemarie Jacir
In The Lord and in Palestine ’36, the story of Mandatory Palestine comes into focus.
www.thenation.com
September 8, 2026 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
hellbox.bsky.social
Literally the plot of @lailalalami.com’s The Dream Hotel.
September 8, 2026 at 2:17 PM
lailalalami.com
I wrote about Palestine in the interwar period, British colonial rule, the dispossessed farmers and underpaid workers it created, and the Rebellion of 1936, which serves as backdrop for Susan Antonius’s The Lord and Anne Marie Jacir's Palestine 36. Take a look! www.thenation.com/article/worl...
The Palestines of Soraya Antonius and Annemarie Jacir
In The Lord and in Palestine ’36, the story of Mandatory Palestine comes into focus.
www.thenation.com
September 8, 2026 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
propublica.org
Pregnancy is the only condition where Florida courts have ruled that a mentally competent patient can be forced to undergo unwanted treatment, such as a C-section.

(Published March)
They Didn’t Want to Have C-Sections. A Judge Would Decide How They Gave Birth.
Two Florida women had to attend virtual court hearings while in labor to argue for their right to choose their own medical care. As their state pushes to expand some types of medical freedom, it has a...
www.propublica.org
September 4, 2026 at 3:00 AM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
ironbound.bsky.social
Man this guy sucks
Last September, when an aide told Fetterman that officials with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, known as CHOP, wanted to meet because they were worried about Medicaid cuts, he was dismissive. Fetterman Why do I have to keep having to meet with chop Aide Because they are worried about vaccines and Medicaid cuts. Fetterman Well I'm not [..] I'm convinced they just want free trips to DC Source: messages reviewed by WSJ
September 4, 2026 at 1:33 AM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
joolia.bsky.social
To be fair he also does all of these things in the wide open
September 4, 2026 at 3:04 AM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
nytimes.com
The Democratic Socialists of America’s Los Angeles chapter announced on Wednesday that it had endorsed Nithya Raman, the progressive City Council member challenging Mayor Karen Bass in this year’s election.
D.S.A. Chapter Endorses Nithya Raman for Mayor of Los Angeles
Ms. Raman, a member of the D.S.A. chapter, is challenging Mayor Karen Bass as democratic socialists have surged nationally.
nyti.ms
September 3, 2026 at 3:00 AM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
leahstokes.bsky.social
Newsom withheld *legislatively appropriated* school AC funds for 2 years. Now he's handing them to a fossil fuel company, the week after half a million kids had their school day changed by extreme heat.

If that's not Trumpian, I don't know what is. Shameful.
calmatters.org/environment/...
California lawmakers let schools' AC funding lapse, handing $191 million back to utilities
Despite sweltering classrooms and a heat wave, the state chose to return unspent CalSHAPE funds to ratepayers.
calmatters.org
September 2, 2026 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
alexanderchee.bsky.social
“Moulton exemplified the reactionary, left-bashing panic and capitulation to Trump we saw from many congressional Democrats in the wake of the 2024 election. Almost two years later, he got what he deserved: an electoral whupping.”
September 2, 2026 at 2:55 AM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
joshtpm.bsky.social
In independence, Missouri, hometown of Harry Truman, tonight city councilman John Perkins got absolutely rocked, losing a recall election with 68% voting to end his term immediately over his vote to approve a big data center. www.kmbc.com/article/inde...
Independence Councilman John Perkins recalled after voting to approve multibillion-dollar data center
Independence voters recalled District 1 Councilman John Perkins following his vote to approve a multibillion-dollar data center project.
www.kmbc.com
September 2, 2026 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
newyorker.com
Palestinians now control just eight per cent of the land in the West Bank. “92 per cent of the land for 50 per cent of the people—how is that sustainable?” a policy fellow who has been mapping Israeli settlements said. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/NcLSkj
New Maps Show How Israel Has Thwarted Hopes for a Palestinian State
The breakneck expansion of settlements in the West Bank has rendered American talk of a two-state solution increasingly irrelevant.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
August 30, 2026 at 5:00 PM
lailalalami.com
Newsom, once again trying to shield Edison and his corporate friends from liability. Eaton wildfire survivors stopped him. www.latimes.com/business/sto...
Facing protests, Newsom drops most of plan limiting utility wildfire liabilities
In a late-night deal with lawmakers, Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed to drop his push for legislation that would have shifted more of the cost of utility-sparked wildfires to property insurers, which could h...
www.latimes.com
August 30, 2026 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Laila Lalami
annabookwriter.bsky.social
Had no idea that Wedgwood, much beloved in the UK, was an abolitionist.
A white porcelain teapot painted with letters framed by red designs. They read “health to the sick, honour to the brave, success to the lover and freedom to the slave.”
August 29, 2026 at 7:33 PM