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Wajdi al-Ahdal
Wajdi Al-Ahdal is a novelist, short story writer and playwright, born in the province of Hudaydah, Yemen, in 1973.
In 2002-03, his debut novel, Qawarib Jabaliya (Mountain Boats), which was reviewed in Banipal 19, created a considerable amount of controversy in Yemen and due to threats from radical conservatives he was forced to leave the country for a while, staying in Lebanon until he could safely return.
He is the winner of numerous Yemeni literary prizes in
Banipal's issue on Literature in Yemen Today (No 36) featured a chapter from Wagdi's novel A Land without Jasmine, translated by William M Hutchins. Published later, in 2012, by Garnet Publishing, A Land Without Jasmine's translator William M Hutchins was joint winner of the 2013 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation.
The Judges said of the book: "A Land Without Jasmine – A gripping page-turner from a gifted and original storyteller, superbly translated"
"The novel deals with many social and political issues such as the sexual repression of males in a conservative society and the corruption of public institutions yet it does so in the guise of a thriller that keeps the reader enthralled. The story is told by several characters whose accounts do not often tally with one another, leaving room for the readers to synthesise their own version of the truth. Altogether a gripping page-turner from a talented writer, superbly translated by William Maynard Hutchins."
For more about the book and the 2013 Prize click here.Iin 2019 it was dramatised by the Sarha Collective and staged at Battersea Arts Centre, London.
His fifth novel, Land of Happy Conspiracies, is excerpted in Banipal 65 (Summer 2019) from page 57, Fand an essay by him on his Literary Influences essay is in the same issue, see page 182.
Contributor's Issues
Banipal 49 - A Cornucopia of Short Stories (2014)
Banipal 65 - The Beautiful Creatures of Fadhil Al-Azzawi (Summer 2019)
The Tent Generations
Things I Left Behind by Shada Mustafa, translated by Nancy Roberts
Shadow of the Sun by Taleb Alrefai
Birds of Nabaa, A Mauritanian Tale by Abdallah Uld Mohamadi Bah
The Stone Serpent, Barates of Palmyra’s Elegy for Regina his Beloved by Nouri Al-Jarrah
Mansi A Rare Man in His Own Way by Tayeb Saleh (Banipal Books, 2020)
Tayeb Salih
Goat Mountain by Habib Selmi
Habib Selmi, author of Goat Mountain and 3 times shortlisted for the IPAF
The Mariner by Taleb Alrefai (Banipal Books, 2020)
Taleb Alrefai, author of Shadow of the Sun and The Mariner
Digital images
Fadhil Al-Azzawi's Beautiful Creatures by Fadhil al-Azzawi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Fadhil al-Azzawi
Poems of Alexandria and New York by Ahmed Morsi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Digital Banipal promotion B67
Saïd Khatibi
Amjad Nasser (1955–2019)
Digital Banipal the full archive
Denys Johnson-Davies (1922–2017) 70 years translating Arabic literature
Ahmed Morsi, author of Poems of Alexandria and New York
Sarajevo Firewood
The Madness of Despair
Mahmoud Shukair – see special feature of Banipal 70 (Spring 2021)
LATEST NEWS
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Link to poems by Mosab Abu Toha, published in Banipal 71 (Summer 2021), available to read online
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Link to poem by Liana Badr published in Banipal 74, now available as an online selection
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GRIFFIN PRIZE SHORTLIST 2023
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Banipal Book Club
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