Ibrahim al-Koni

Ibrāhīm Kūnī
Born1948
OccupationNovelist
LanguageArabic

Ibrāhīm al-Kōnī (sometimes translated as Ibrāhīm Kūnī) (Arabic: ابراهيم الكوني) is a Libyan writer[1][2] and is considered to be one of the most prolific Arab novelists.[3]

Biography

Born in 1948 in the Fezzan Region, Ghadamis City, Ibrahim al-Koni was brought up in the traditions of the Tuareg,[4] people, who are popularly known as "the veiled men" or "the blue men." Mythological elements, spiritual quests and existential questions mingle in the writings of al-Koni, who has been "hailed as a magical realist, a Sufi fabulist, and a poetic novelist."[5]

He spent his childhood in the desert and learned to read and write Arabic when he was twelve. Al-Koni studied literature and journalism at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow and worked as a journalist in Moscow and Warsaw.[6] He moved to Switzerland in 1993 and was living there as of 2011.[7]

Works

By 2007, Kuni had published more than 80 books and received numerous awards. His books have been translated from their original Arabic into 35 languages. His novel Gold Dust appeared in English in 2008. He won the Mohamed Zefzaf Prize for the Arabic Novel in 2005, and in 2008 he won the Sheikh Zayed Award for Literature.[8] In 2015, Kuni was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize.[9]

Bibliography

  • Ibrahim Kuni, Anubis: A Desert Novel. Translated by William M. Hutchins
  • Ibrahim Kuni, Gold Dust. Translated by Elliott Colla. London: Arabia Books, 2008. ISBN 978-1-906697-02-0
  • Ibrahim Kuni, The Animists. Translated by Elliott Colla.
  • Ibrahim Kuni, The Bleeding of the Stone. Translated by May Jayyusi and Christopher Tingley.
  • Ibrahim Kuni, The Puppet. Translated by William M. Hutchins.
  • Ibrahim Kuni, The Seven Veils of Seth. Translated by William M. Hutchins. Reading, UK: Garnet Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-85964-202-3
  • Meinrad Calleja, "The Philosophy of Desert Metaphors in Ibrahim al-Koni - The Bleeding of the Stone', 2013, Faraxa Publishers

See also

References

  1. ^ Mohammed Hujairi (6 February 2011). الأدباء وورطة الجوائز... من بهاء طاهر إلى جابر عصفور. الجريدة (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  2. ^ الليبي إبراهيم الكوني يفوز بجائزة الرواية العربية ويتبرع بها لأطفال "الطوارق". Al Arabiya (in Arabic). 15 December 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  3. ^ El-Zein, Amira (2015). "Mythological Tuareg Gods in Ibrahim al-Koni's Work / ميثولوجيا آلهة الطوارق في أعمال إبراهيم الكوني". Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics (35): 200. ISSN 1110-8673. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  4. ^ Wray, Dianna (1 March 2023). "The Night Will Have Its Say". AramcoWorld. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  5. ^ "Ibrahim al-Koni". AUC Press. American University of Cairo. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  6. ^ Weisberg, Meg Furniss (26 August 2015). "Spiritual Symbolism in the Sahara: Ibrahim Al-Koni's Nazīf al-Ḥajar". Research in African Literatures. 46 (3): 46–67. ISSN 1527-2044. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  7. ^ Schanda, Susanne. "Interview with the Libyan Writer Ibrahim Al-Koni: The Destructive Nature of Tyranny - Qantara.de". Qantara.de. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  8. ^ "Ibrahim al-Koni". International Prize for Arabic Fiction. 1 March 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  9. ^ "Ibrahim al-Koni". The Booker Prizes. Retrieved 19 November 2022.