We're so blinded by our love of the West that we're willing to give them our brightest instead of keeping them here where we need them. - Laila Lalami

She did not notice the fading afternoon light that lengthened the shadows behind her, framing her body like the arches of a shrine.

All of my books have focused on characters that are displaced and having to start over in some place new, and how the new landscape shapes the person you are and the person you become. (2019)

He couldn't understand these foreigners. They could go to a nice hotel, have a clean bed, go to the beach or the pool, and here they were in the worst part of town, looking around for something exotic.