France

Mahir Guven

Mahir Guven was born in 1986 in Nantes, the stateless child of refugees, his mother from Turkey and his Kurdish father from Iraq. He grew up with his grandmother between the city and vineyards. Older Brother, his first novel, was awarded the Goncourt First Novel Prize in 2018.

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Latest reviews

“Mahir Guven’s masterpiece of a first novel...is a meticulously plotted, funny and tragic story of an Uber driver in a Paris banlieue.” Read the full article in The Guardian

— The Guardian, Nov 23 2019

“Guven is a sly, ingenious storyteller, infusing black humor and biting wit throughout...One of the most astute international debuts of the year.” Read the full review in Shelf Awareness

— Shelf Awareness, Nov 15 2019

“Older Brother, the superb debut novel by Mahir Guven [...] accomplishes what the best kind of reporting can do: wade into questions that resist simple answers, while restoring dignity to its characters.”

— New York Times Book Review, Oct 8 2019

“The novel’s real accomplishment is in depicting the stresses of everyday life for Muslim immigrants in France. This is a winning debut.”

— Publishers Weekly (Starred Review), Sep 12 2019

“Older Brother takes on the Uberization of labor alongside a look at immigration, civil war, and terrorism . . . ”

— The Millions, Jul 15 2019

“A striking debut that reveals the breadth of emotional disconnection that prejudice can stoke within a family.”

— Kirkus Reviews, Jul 15 2019