Fiction writer Aleksandar Hemon is fascinated by spies and the notion of leading a double life. Perhaps that’s partly because in a sense he’s had to reinvent himself. At 28, Hemon found himself stranded as a tourist in Chicago when his hometown of Sarajevo came under siege in 1992. Determined to continue his profession as a writer, Hemon taught himself English within three years of living in America; he published his first story in his adopted tongue in 1995. His writing has since prompted comparisons with Vladimir Nabokov, to which Hemon has said: “If Nabokov managed to make love with the English language, I’m happy with heavy petting.”