Amir Tag Elsir (, born 1960), also written Amir Taj al-Sir, is a
Sudanese medical doctor and
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...
, writing in
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 ...
. He has published more than 20 works of poetry, biography and novels, some of these translated into English or other languages. His novels deal with contemporary social issues, like poverty, the lives of refugees or diseases, such as
Ebola
Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after becom ...
.
Life and literary career
Tag Elsir was born in northern
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
in 1960 and graduated from
Tanta University
Tanta University is an Egyptian university in the city of Tanta, Al Gharbiyah governorate, Egypt. The university is under the direct scientific supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education.
It was founded first in 1962 as a branch from the ...
in Egypt. He lives and works as a medical doctor in
Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
,
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
.
His first novel ''Karmakul'' came out in 1988. In 2015, he won the
Katara Prize for Arabic Novel for his story of love and crime, entitled ''366.'' In addition, several of his other novels were shortlisted for the prestigious
International Prize for Arabic Fiction
The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) ( ar, الجائزة العالمية للرواية العربية) is the most prestigious and important literary prize in the Arab world.
Its aim is to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic ...
.
Commenting on the novel ''Telepathy'', literary critic M.A. Orthofer said, Tag Elsir creates the fiction of "a successful Sudanese writer, who finds that his most recent novel, called ''Hunger's Hopes'', turns out to be closer to real life than he had any reason to believe." According to a review in Sudanese online magazine
Andariya, his novels treat contemporary social issues "like the exploitation of the refugees and their harsh living conditions, and tackles the issue of poverty plaguing the citizens of the country."
Selected works in English translation
* ''French Perfume'' (2009)
*''The Grub Hunter'' (2010). Pearson Education.
*''The Korak council (2012)''
*''The Yelling Dowry'' (2013). Moment Digibooks Limited
*''Telepathy'' (2015). Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing.
* ''
Ebola '76'' (2015). London:
Darf Publishers
Darf Publishers is an independent British publishing house established in London in 1980 focusing on publishing books on the Middle East, North Africa and the Arab World in English. Initially, most of Darf's books were facsimile editions of rare 1 ...
.
*''366'' (2016)
See also
*
Sudanese literature
Sudanese literature consists of both oral as well as written works of fiction and nonfiction that were created during the cultural history of today's Republic of the Sudan. This includes the territory of what was once Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the ...
*
List of Sudanese writers
This is a list of prominent Sudanese writers.
Novelists and short story writers
* Leila Aboulela (born 1964)
* Fatin Abbas
* Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin (born 1963)
* Malkat Ed-Dar Mohamed (1920–1969)
* Bushra Elfadil (born 1952), also poet
* ...
*
Modern Arabic literature
The instance that marked the shift in the whole of Arabic literature towards modern Arabic literature can be attributed to the Arab World-West contact during the 19th and early 20th century. This contact resulted in the gradual replacement of Cla ...
References
External links
Amir Tag Elsiron
goodreads
Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and read ...
A chapter from Amir Tag Elsir’s ''Ebola ‘76'' in English translation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taj al Sir, Amir
1960 births
Living people
Sudanese novelists
20th-century Sudanese writers
21st-century Sudanese writers
Sudanese male writers