MUNIR HACHEMI: THE MULAI

The Autumn/Winter events season kicks off at Voce with a visit from MUNIR HACHEMI – named by Granta Magazine as one of the most promising young Spanish-language writers in the world – for a discussion about their new FITZCARRALDO EDITIONS book, THE MULAI.

An archaeologist travels to a distant planet to spend time among a mysterious community, a people who live in temperature-controlled domes, worship a deity called Dog, and repeat an elliptical phrase from which they draw their name: mulai, the tree comes. The descendants of a long-forgotten space mission, the Mulai have abandoned the social norms that once bound them to Earth. Over centuries of isolation, their language has become more about change than stability, and the ways they eat, write, reproduce, bury their dead and understand gender have all transformed into something almost unrecognizable.
As the archaeologist records his attempts to understand their world – a strange negative of our own – questions of translation, meaning-making and the ultimate precarity of civilization come to the fore. Drawing on Borges, Le Guin and Calvino, THE MULAI is a mind-bending work of metafiction whose interlocking puzzles resound with Munir Hachemi’s singularly playful and eclectic style.

The event will be chaired by Voce Books co-owner, MARIA LOMUNNO JUDD.

MUNIR HACHEMI’s career as a writer began with them selling their stories in the form of fanzines in the bars of the Lavapiés neighbourhood of Madrid. They are the author of ‘Living Things’ (2018) and are also a translator from Chinese and English.

This event forms part of our BORDERLESS SEASON—a programme of events celebrating language, literature in translation & ideas from around the globe.

TICKETS: £4 standard entry / £12.99 book & entry

Please book your ticket here on our Eventbrite page.

*Please note we will be unable to offer refunds on tickets when requested within 7 days of an event date.

VOCE BOOKS is located at 54-57 Allison Street, Digbeth with step-free access via BRIG Café. For further enquiries about the event, or to discuss any other access requirements please email [email protected]