During the many wars that he has lived through, Qais and his family travelled around their country in order to stay alive. Sometimes their intention was to leave their homeland; sometimes it was only to escape from the violence that broke out to safety nearby.

In these maps, you can see his home and the paths of his family's journeys.

Set in Hampstead in the sweltering heat of the summer of 1989, Meeting the English follows Struan Roberts, a Scot newly arrived in London and bound for the house of Phillip Prys, a literary giant who has suffered a massive stroke and who now needs constant care. To Struan, the leafy streets of Hampstead and the excruciating heat of London are entirely foreign, as are the strange and careless people who live there. It is to be a life-changing summer . . .

James Salter and George Saunders will be reading from, and discussing, their latest work.

Kent Haruf's novels Plainsong, Eventide and Benediction are set in the fictional Holt County, Colorado, based loosely on the area where Kent grew up. Though he says the landscape hasn't shaped his literary style, you can see Kent's fictional world in every one of these pictures.

All images (c) Max Liu