“The reader will see that such a desire infuses language with a passion for breathing and utterance equally.”—Fanny Howe


“A beautifully cadenced and charmed performance by a young writer of great soul and promise.”—Carole Maso


The Disappearance of Seth tells the interlocking stories of five New Yorkers, stumbling through their lives in the aftermath of the events of September 11 and connected by the paths of two figures—Seth, an alienated young man struggling to come to terms with his own penchant for violence, and Layla, an Iraqi artist who fled the violence of the first Gulf War and made a new home for herself in New York City. Written by a Muslim American, The Disappearance of Seth features characters both Muslim and non-Muslim, American and non-American in an arresting portrait of life in America at the beginning of the millennium. A lyrical, hypnotic narrative reminiscent of Sherman Alexie or Junot Díaz, it attempts to historicize the political events of recent years with the personal struggles of its protagonists.


Kazim Ali is the author of two poetry collections and the novel Quinn’s Passage. He teaches at Oberlin College and the Stonecoast MFA program and is a founding editor of Nightboat Books.