Mokhtar Alkhanshali's life story reads like a novel: A not-very-successful Yemeni-American guy from the worst part of San Francisco is working as a doorman, discovers "a statue of a Yemeni dude drinking a big cup of coffee" across the street and decides to revive the coffee industry in his ancestral homeland.
What happens next is a tale that can teach you about a turbulent part of the world, make you believe in the American dream and give you new appreciation for your next cup of joe. It's also a book (one of my favorites of 2018) called The Monk of Mokha, by Dave Eggers.
You can meet both writer and subject at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 11, when the two appear at the Dallas Museum of Art for an event put on by Arts & Letters Live and the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth. Details and tickets at dma.org/all.
