Kafa Al-Zou'bi

Kafa Al-Zou'bi (Arabic: كفى الزعبي, born 1965) is a Jordanian author.^[1] Her novel Cold White Sun was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2019.^[1][2]

Kafa Al-Zou'bi
Born	1965 (age 59–60) Ar-Ramtha, Jordan
Nationality	Jordanian
Occupation	Author
Awards	Shortlisted for International Prize for Arabic Fiction

Biography

Kafa Al-Zou'bi was born in 1965 in Ar-Ramtha, Jordan.^[3] She graduated from Ramtha Secondary School for Girls in 1984.^[3] She earned a B.Sc. in civil engineering from Leningrad State University in 1992.^[1][3][4] She lived in St. Petersburg, Russia for a substantial period of time, experiencing the end of the Soviet Union.^{[citation needed]} She left Saint Petersburg in 2006, and now lives in Amman, Jordan, where she works as a journalist as well as a novelist,^[1] though she maintains strong ties to both cities.^{[citation needed]}

Novels

Al-Zou'bi has written six novels, five in Arabic and one in Russian.^[4] Al-Zou'bi's novels are generally interested in Arab intellectual life and existentialism.^{[citation needed]}

• سقف من طين (Saqf min ṭīn ("A Clay Roof")). Damascus: Arab Writers Union, 2000.^[3]
• ليلى والثلج ولودميلا (Laylá wa-al-thalj wa-Lūdmīlā) "Laila, the Snow and Ludmilla")). Beirut: The Arab Institute for Studies and Publishing, 2007. Also published in Russian, Moscow: Admarginen, 2010.^[1][3]
• Go Back Home, Khalil, published only in Russian. Moscow, 2009.^[1][3][5]
• ‏ابن الحرام (Ibn Al-Harām). Damascus and Beirut: Dār al-Takwīn, 2012.^{[citation needed]}
• ‏‏س (Sīn ("S")). Damascus: Dār al-Takwīn, 2014.^{[citation needed]}
• شمس بيضاء باردة (Shams Baidha' Baridah ("Cold White Sun")). Beirut: Dar al-Adab, 2018.

Reception

The novels S and Laila, the Snow and Ludmilla were the subject of a symposium debate between translator Alexander Habash and the novelist Faten Al-Murr at the 2015 Beirut International Book Fair.^[6] The discussion focused on interpreting the two novels as potentially feminist texts.^[6] The literary critic Ali Hassan Al-Fawaz responded with an article rejecting the premise, describing Al-Zou'bi's writing as transcending simple political interpretations; Al-Zou'bi's novels, he argues, require a reader who will rise to the semiotic challenges of her symbolic writing.^[6]

Cold White Sun was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2019.^[1][2] As a shortlisted book, it was one of 6 titles selected from 134 candidates.^[2] Being shortlisted comes with a prize of $10,000.^[2] Despite this international success, the novel faced censorship in Jordan.^[7] In February 2018, the Media Commission forbade circulation of the novel within Jordan and asked distributors to re-export any copies they had in their possession.^[7] The Commission declined to give a specific reason for the ban.^[7] The novel is about a young intellectual who feels alienated from the conservative society of Amman.^[8] Much of the book takes the form of the diary of an old man who was the prior occupant of his windowless room.^[4] This narrative raises existential questions about eternity and futility, and the suppression of Arab intellectual culture.^[4] The literary critic Walid Abu Bakr described the novel as a combination of the myth of Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the myth Sisyphus, contrasting heroic and absurd models of eternity.^[7]

Issue 66 of Banipal, the Magazine of Modern Arab Literature takes Al-Zou'bi as its featured author, with an essay on her literary influences, an excerpt of Cold White Sun translated into English, and a review of the novel.^[9] This excerpt is the only writing by Al-Zou'bi available in English, as of 2019.^[5]