Ahdaf Soueif
Egyptian novelist (born 1950) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ahdaf Soueif (Arabic: أهداف سويف; born 23 March 1950) is an Egyptian novelist and political and cultural commentator.
Ahdaf Soueif | |
|---|---|
| أهداف سويف | |
Soueif in 2008 | |
| Born | 23 March 1950 Cairo, Egypt |
| Alma mater | University of Lancaster |
| Notable work | The Map of Love (1999) |
| Spouse | Ian Hamilton |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Laila Soueif (sister) Alaa Abd El-Fattah (nephew) Mona Seif (niece) Sanaa Seif (niece) |
| Website | www |
Early life
Soueif was born in Cairo, where she lives, and was educated in Egypt and England. She studied for a PhD in linguistics at the University of Lancaster, completing the degree in 1979.[1][2] Her sister is the human and women's rights activist and mathematician Laila Soueif.[3]
Career
Summarize
Perspective
Ahdaf Soueif's debut novel, In the Eye of the Sun (1993), set in Egypt and England, recounts the maturing of Asya, a beautiful Egyptian woman who, by her own admission, "feels more comfortable with art than with life". Soueif's second novel, The Map of Love (1999), was shortlisted for the Booker Prize,[4] has been translated into 21 languages and sold more than a million copies.[5] She has also published two books of short stories, Aisha (1983) and Sandpiper (1996) – a selection from which was combined in the collection I Think Of You in 2007, and Stories Of Ourselves in 2010. [citation needed]
Soueif writes primarily in English,[1] but her Arabic-speaking readers say they can hear the Arabic through the English.[6] She translated Mourid Barghouti's I Saw Ramallah (with a foreword by Edward Said) from Arabic into English. [7]
Along with her readings of Egyptian history and politics, Soueif also writes about Palestinians in her fiction and non-fiction. A shorter version of Under the Gun: A Palestinian Journey was originally published in The Guardian and then printed in full in Soueif's 2004 collection of essays, Mezzaterra: Fragments from the Common Ground, and she wrote the introduction to the New York Review Books 2003 reprint of Jean Genet's Prisoner of Love.[8]
In 2008, she initiated the first Palestine Festival of Literature,[9] of which she is the Founding Chair.[10]
Soueif is also a cultural and political commentator for The Guardian newspaper, and she has reported on the Egyptian revolution.[11] In January 2012, she published Cairo: My City, Our Revolution – a personal account of the first year of the Egyptian revolution. Her sister Laila Soueif, and Laila's children, Alaa Abd El-Fatah and Mona Seif, are also activists.[12]
Soueif was married to Ian Hamilton,[13] with whom she had two sons: Omar Robert Hamilton and Ismail Richard Hamilton.[14]
She was appointed a trustee of the British Museum in 2012 and re-appointed for a further four years in 2016.[15] However she resigned in 2019 complaining about BP's sponsorship, the reluctance to re-hire workers transferred to Carillion and lack of engagement with repatriating artworks.[16]
In June 2013, Soueif and numerous other celebrities appeared in a video showing support for activist and whistleblower Chelsea Manning.[17][18]
Political views
In December 2019, along with 42 other leading cultural figures, Soueif signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few."[19][20]
In 2020, Soueif was arrested for demanding the release of political prisoners during the COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt.[21]
Bibliography
- Aisha, London: Bloomsbury, 1983.
- In the Eye of the Sun, NY: Random House, 1992.[22]
- Sandpiper, London: Bloomsbury, 1996.
- The Map of Love, London: Bloomsbury, 1999.[23]
- Translation of I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti. NY: Anchor Books, 2003.
- Mezzaterra: Fragments from the Common Ground, NY: Anchor Books, 2004.
- I Think of You, London: Bloomsbury: 2007.[24]
- Cairo: My City, Our Revolution, Bloomsbury, 2012[25]
- This Is Not a Border: Reportage & Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature, Bloomsbury, 2017.[26]
Literary awards
In a review of Egyptian novelists, Harper's Magazine included Soueif in a shortlist of "the country's most talented writers".[27] She has also been the recipient of several literary awards:
- 1996: Cairo International Book Fair: Best Collection of Short Stories (Sandpiper)
- 1999: Nominated: the Booker Prize ("The Map of Love")
- 2010: Inaugural Mahmoud Darwish Award[28]
- 2011: Cavafy Award
- 2011: Named in The Guardian′s Books Power 100[29]
- 2011: Reflections: (English edition)[30]
Literary criticism
Marta Cariello: "Bodies Across: Ahdaf Soueif, Fadia Faqir, Diana Abu Jaber" in Al Maleh, Layla (ed.), Arab Voices in Diaspora. Critical Perspectives on Anglophone Arab Literature. Amsterdam/New York, NY, 2009, Hb: ISBN 978-90-420-2718-3
Chakravorty, Mrinalini. "To Undo What the North Has Done: Fragments of a Nation and Arab Collectivism in the Fiction of Ahdaf Soueif". In Arab Women's Lives Retold: Exploring Identity Through Writing, edited by Nawar Al-Hassan Golley, 129–154. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2007. ISBN 9780815631477
References
External links
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