Last week we brought you a reading from Writing Revolution, so this week how about an interview with one of the contributors?

As Mohamed Mesrati says, ‘8 months to take down 40 years, it’s a big achievement.’

A remarkable collection of testimony, entirely composed by participants in, and witnesses to, the profound changes shaking their region, Writing Revolution brings together some of the most exciting new writing born out of revolution in the Arab world.

One of these writers is Mohamed Mesrati, a Libyan writer and activist who now lives in London. Recorded here at the Gate Theatre in Notting Hill on 19 July, 2012, Mohamed is in conversation with Christopher Haydon, director of The Prophet, discussing how Libyans managed to overthrow Gaddafi.

More information about the Writing Revolution project, winner of the 2013 English PEN Award for Translation, can be found at www.ibtauris.com/writingrevolution.

Watch, or listen to (it’s up to you), Karim Scott read Mohamed Mesrati’s account of the Libyan uprisings, ‘Bayou and Laila’, here.

Image courtesy of EliasSchewel