Alawiya Sobh (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: علوية صبح) (born 1955) is a Lebanese writer and author.

Biography

Born in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, Sobh studied English & Arabic Literature at the

Lebanese University The Lebanese University (LU) (, ) is the only public university in Beirut, Lebanon. It is ranked #701–750 worldwide in terms of education. The creation of the Lebanese University was an idea first mentioned in the speech of the former Minist ...

. Upon graduation in 1978, she pursued a career in teaching. She also began publishing articles and short stories, at first in ''An-Nida'' newspaper and then in ''

An-Nahar ''An-Nahar'' ( ar, النهار, lit=The Day or The Morning) is a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper published in Lebanon. In the 1980s, ''An-Nahar'' was described by the ''New York Times'' and ''Time Magazine'' as the newspaper of record f ...

''. After a spell as cultural editor, she became editor-in-chief of ''Al-Hasnaa'', a popular Arabic women's magazine, in 1986. In the early 1990s, she became editor-in-chief of women's magazine ''Snob Al-Hasnaa’''. In 2009, Sobh served on the judging panel of the

Beirut39 Beirut39 is a collaborative project between the Hay Festival, Beirut UNESCO's World Book Capital 2009 celebrations, ''Banipal'' magazine and the British Council among others in order to identify 39 of the most promising Arab writers under the age o ...

competition. Sobh is now dedicating her time only to writing.

Works

Short Stories * ''Slumber of Days'' (1986) Novels (All novels were published originally at Dar Al Adab in their native Arabic language) * 2002 - ''Maryam Al-Hakaya'' (''Maryam: Keeper of the Stories'') * 2006 - ''Dunya'' (''Life'') * 2009 - ''Ismuhu Al-Gharam'' (''It's Called Passion'') * 2020 - ''An Taashak Al-Hayat'' (''To Love Life'') Translations * ''Maryam Al-Hayaka'' was translated into English by Seagull Books, into French by Gallimard and into German by

Suhrkamp Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and generally acknowledged as one of the leading European publishers of fine literature. Its roots go back to the "arianized" part of the S. Fischer Verlag. In January 2010 the ...

. * ''Dunya'' was translated into Italian by Mondadori. * ''Ismuhu Al-Gharam'' was translated into Italian by Mondadori and into Romanian by

Polirom Polirom or Editura Polirom ("Polirom" Publishing House) is a Romanian publishing house with a tradition of publishing classics of international literature and also various titles in the fields of social sciences, such as psychology, sociology and a ...

Reception of work

Sobh's work has been critically acclaimed and is the subject of numerous doctoral works and literary studies. For her literary accomplishments and innovative writing, Sobh received the Sultan Qaboos prize in Oman in 2007. Her novels ''Dunya'' and ''Ismuhu Al-Gharam'' were long-listed for the Arabic Booker Prize in 2008 and 2010, respectively. In 2016, an eponymous award dubbed the "Alawiya Sobh Literary critique Award" was launched at

Abdelmalek Essaâdi University Abdelmalek Essaâdi University ( ar, جامعة عبدالمالك السعدي) is a Moroccan public university created in 1989. It is considered to be the main university in the North of the Morocco. This university is made up of 15 institutions, ...

in Tétouan for participants whose critiques center around Sobh's work. ''Maryam: Keeper of Stories'' was short-listed in 2019 for the

EBRD Literature Prize The EBRD Literature Prize is a literary prize established in 2017 by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development. As per the bank, the prize celebrates the "literary richness" of its operational regions, which spans some 40 countries across ...

. Sobh's cumulative work then proceeded to earn her the Al Owais Award in 2019 for the category of "Stories: Novels and Drama". Most recently in 2021, ''An Taashak Al-Hayat'' made the three-book short-list in Sheikh Zayed Book Award's Literature section.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sobh, Alawiya 1955 births Writers from Beirut Lebanese journalists Lebanese novelists Lebanese women writers Lebanese University alumni Living people Lebanese women novelists Lebanese women short story writers Lebanese short story writers Lebanese women journalists 21st-century novelists 20th-century short story writers 21st-century short story writers 20th-century Lebanese women writers 20th-century Lebanese writers 21st-century Lebanese women writers 21st-century Lebanese writers