Aasif Mandvi. Photo by Lia Chang
BookCourt is presenting Aasif Mandvi in conversation with Ayad Akhtar on Friday, January 23, 2015 at 7 P.M. Mandvi will read excerpts from his new book, No Land’s Man, which will be followed by an audience Q & A and a book signing. BookCourt is located at 163 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. For more information, call (718) 875-3677 or email bookcourtinfo@gmail.com.
Aasif Mandvi is a correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and one of the stars of HBO’s upcoming series, The Brink for which he also serves as writer/producer. He won an OBIE award for his one-man play Sakina’s Restaurant which he later adapted into the film Today’s Special. He has appeared in numerous theater, film and television productions including Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Disgraced at Lincoln Center, the films Million Dollar Arm and The Internship, and most recently on the television show “Madame Secretary”. He lives in New York City.
Praise:
If you’re an Indo-Muslim-British-American actor who has spent more time in bars than mosques over the past few decades, turns out it’s a little tough to explain who you are or where you are from. In No Land’s Man Aasif Mandvi explores this and other conundrums through stories about his family, ambition, desire, and culture that range from dealing with his brunch-obsessed father, to being a high-school-age Michael Jackson impersonator, to joining a Bible study group in order to seduce a nice Christian girl, to improbably becoming America’s favorite Muslim/Indian/Arab/Brown/Doctor correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
This is a book filled with passion, discovery, and humor. Mandvi hilariously and poignantly describes a journey that will resonate with anyone who has had to navigate his or her way in the murky space between lands. Or anyone who really loves brunch.
“It always bothered me that Aasif was more than merely funny-he’s also a great actor. Now I’ve learned he’s an amazing storyteller as well, and I am furious . . . but also grateful. Aasif’s movement between cultures and genres is what makes him and his story singularly funny, poignant, and essential.” -John Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise and More Information Than You Require
“Highly entertaining and engaging” -India West
“We need more books like this – or rather, we need to read more books like this – in order to understand the fundamental humanity that we all share, regardless of skin color.” -Daily Kos
“Mandvi’s book No Land’s Man is a collection of humorous essays that explore his myriad identities: Indian, Muslim, British, and American…The book is a lighthearted but heartfelt portrait of Mandvi’s childhood and his struggles to come to terms with his rather complicated life.” -The Boston Globe
“Aasif is my favorite Indo-Muslim-British- American Daily Show correspondent ever. I loved No Land’s Man!” -Jim Gaffigan, author of Dad Is Fat and Food: A Love Story
DISGRACED playwright Ayad Akhtar at The Drama Book Shop in New York on January 22, 2015. Photo by Lia Chang
Ayad Akhtar was born in New York City and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Akhtar is the author of American Dervish, published in 2012 by Little, Brown and Company in more than 20 languages worldwide, and a 2012 Best Book of the Year at Kirkus Reviews, Toronto’s Globe and Mail, Shelf-Awareness, and O (Oprah) Magazine. He is also a playwright and screenwriter. His play Disgraced premiered in New York at LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater in 2012, won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2013 Obie Award for Extraordinary Achievement and the 2013 Jeff Award for New Work, and is currently on Broadway through March 1, 2015. His latest plays, The Who & The What (LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater and La Jolla Playhouse) and The Invisible Hand (New York Theatre Workshop/The Repertory Theater of St. Louis) made their New York premieres in 2014. As a screenwriter, he co-wrote and starred in The War Within (Magnolia Pictures), which was released internationally and nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay. As an actor, Akhtar also starred as Neel Kashkari in HBO’s adaptation of Andrew Ross Sorkin’s book Too Big to Fail. He has received commissions from Lincoln Center Theater and fellowships from The Yaddo Foundation and The MacDowell Colony. He is a graduate of Brown University and Columbia School of the Arts.
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Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. Lia starred as Carole Barbara in Lorey Hayes’ Power Play at the 2013 National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C., with Pauletta Pearson Washington, Roscoe Orman, and made her jazz vocalist debut in Rome Neal’s Banana Puddin’ Jazz “LADY” at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York. She is profiled in Jade Magazine.
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