Mesopotamia: A Conversation with Olivier Guez

After the immense international success of “La Disparition de Josef Mengele”, Olivier Guez returns with “Mesopotamia” – a novel about Gertrude Bell, a young lady from Victorian high society who became the most powerful woman in the British Empire in the early 1920s. This epic tale of colonial excess resonates with contemporary relevance, as Gertrude Bell’s influence on shaping the Middle East foreshadows the region’s ongoing turmoil a century later. Her life is a novel; it is time to rediscover it.

Olivier Guez is a French writer, journalist and essayist. He won the 2017 Prix Renaudot for his novel “The Disappearance of Josef Mengele (La disparition de Josef Mengele)” and has worked for major French periodicals (La Tribune, Le Point…). He is currently in residence as a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of French and Italian.