What do you think?
Rate this book
The Mulai
Not yet published
Expected 11 Aug 26Interstellar via Invisible Cities: spec-fic translated from Spanish imagines a utopian way of life on another planet.
Years after the climate wars on Earth, the Mulai have settled into their new home on an unnamed planet. Supplies stopped arriving from Earth many years ago, and the Mulai have found a way to live. But now the people of Earth want to know what happened to the settlers, so they send The Archaeologist.
He finds that they have become a different people: uncannily similar to us but with something radically Other about them. Their language has become more about change than stability, and the ways they eat, reproduce, bury their dead, and understand gender have all transformed into something almost unrecognizable. The Archaeologist feels like his trip is one extended misunderstanding.
With fragments from The Archaeologist’s notes and the stories of Flukeh and Faida, who map both their world and their language, The Mulai offers a glimpse of a world adjacent to ours – one that just may be a model for how to better our own.
From one of Granta’s Best Young Spanish-Language Novelists and author of the celebrated Living Things, and translated by the award-winning Julia Sanches, comes a bold new Borgesian reimagining of what ‘civilization’ might look like.
Years after the climate wars on Earth, the Mulai have settled into their new home on an unnamed planet. Supplies stopped arriving from Earth many years ago, and the Mulai have found a way to live. But now the people of Earth want to know what happened to the settlers, so they send The Archaeologist.
He finds that they have become a different people: uncannily similar to us but with something radically Other about them. Their language has become more about change than stability, and the ways they eat, reproduce, bury their dead, and understand gender have all transformed into something almost unrecognizable. The Archaeologist feels like his trip is one extended misunderstanding.
With fragments from The Archaeologist’s notes and the stories of Flukeh and Faida, who map both their world and their language, The Mulai offers a glimpse of a world adjacent to ours – one that just may be a model for how to better our own.
From one of Granta’s Best Young Spanish-Language Novelists and author of the celebrated Living Things, and translated by the award-winning Julia Sanches, comes a bold new Borgesian reimagining of what ‘civilization’ might look like.
180 pages, Paperback
Expected publication August 11, 2026
48 people want to read
About the author
Munir Hachemi
16 books52 followersMunir Hachemi (born 1989) is a Spanish writer. He was born in Madrid to an Algerian father and studied Spanish at university.
He also obtained a master's degree in Latin American studies. His fiction appeared initially in fanzines under the aegis of the Escritores Bárbaros collective. His first novel Cosas vivas appeared in 2018.
In 2021, he was named by Granta magazine as one of the most promising young Spanish-language writers in the world.
(source: Wikipedia)
He also obtained a master's degree in Latin American studies. His fiction appeared initially in fanzines under the aegis of the Escritores Bárbaros collective. His first novel Cosas vivas appeared in 2018.
In 2021, he was named by Granta magazine as one of the most promising young Spanish-language writers in the world.
(source: Wikipedia)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 28, 2025
** a copy of this book was provided by the publisher **
This is an exquisitely strange little book about language and translation. It's a little bit about colonialism and the intersection of cultures, and a lot about how reading Invisible Cities will drive you to madness.
This is an exquisitely strange little book about language and translation. It's a little bit about colonialism and the intersection of cultures, and a lot about how reading Invisible Cities will drive you to madness.
Displaying 1 of 1 review