Hammour Ziada ( ar, حمور زيادة, born 1979) is a

Sudanese writer Sudanese or Sudanic may refer to: *pertaining to the country of Sudan **the people of Sudan, see Demographics of Sudan *pertaining to Sudan (region) **Sudanic languages **Sudanic race, subtype of the Africoid racial category See also *Sudanese Civ ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, born in

Omdurman Omdurman (standard ar, أم درمان ''Umm Durmān'') is a city in Sudan. It is the most populated city in the country, and thus also in the State of Khartoum. Omdurman lies on the west bank of the River Nile, opposite and northwest of the ...

. He has worked as a

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

researcher, and currently works as journalist in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. Before, he had been writing for a number of

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

newspapers in Sudan. Two of his novels were selected for Arabic literary awards and appeared in English translations.

Life and career

In Sudan, Ziada worked for national newspapers, including ''Al-Mustaqilla'', ''Ajras al-Horriya'', and ''Al-Jarida''. At ''Al-Akhbar,'' he served as the culture editor. Ziada has published several volumes of

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

in Arabic, and is best known for his second novel ''Shawq al-darwīsh (The Longing of the Dervish''), which won the prestigious Naguib Mahfouz Prize in Egypt in 2014 and was also nominated for the 2015

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 ...

. This novel, that takes place during the

Mahdist state The Mahdist State, also known as Mahdist Sudan or the Sudanese Mahdiyya, was a state based on a religious and political movement launched in 1881 by Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah (later Muhammad al-Mahdi) against the Khedivate of Egypt, which had ...

, and several of his stories have appeared in English translation, including the

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

''The Book of Khartoum,'' as well as in

Banipal ''Banipal'' is an independent literary magazine dedicated to the promotion of contemporary Arab literature through translations in English. It was founded in London in 1998 by Margaret Obank and Samuel Shimon. The magazine is published three tim ...

magazine. In 2019, a feature film by Sudanese

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

Amjad Abu Alala Amjad Abu Alala (, born in Dubai) is a Sudanese film director and screenwriter, who was born and lives in the United Arab Emirates. He became internationally known for his first feature film '' You Will Die at Twenty'' in 2019. This film was the fi ...

, ''You Will Die at Twenty'', based on Hammour Ziada’s short story “Sleeping at the Foot of the Mountain” (“النوم عند قدمي الجبل“), won awards at the Venice International Film Festival, as well as at other international film festivals. His third novel ''The Drowning'', translated by Paul G. Starkey, presents the social repercussions in a Sudanese rural town after a military coup in the capital in 1968, a few months before the end of the democratic era during the government of President

Ismail al-Azhari Ismail al-Azhari (October 20, 1900 – August 26, 1969) ( ar, إسماعيل الأزهري) was a Sudanese nationalist and political figure. He served as the first Prime Minister of Sudan between 1954 and 1956, and as President of Sudan from 19 ...

Reception

Tahia Abdel Nasser, one of the judges for the Naguib Mahfouz Prize wrote about ''The Longing of the Dervish:'' In a 2023 article by the

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

, ''The Drowning'' was named as one of the five best novels from the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

Original works in Arabic and English translations

* ''A Life Story from Omdurman'' (short stories, 2008) * ''Al-Kunj'' (novel, 2010) * ''Sleeping at the Foot of the Mountain'' (short stories, 2014) * ''Shawq al-darwīsh (The Longing of the Dervish'') (novel, 2014), translated by Jonathan Wright in 2016, * ''The Void'', short story, trans.

Kareem James Abu-Zeid Kareem James Abu-Zeid (born 1981) is an Egyptian-American translator, editor, and writer. He was born in Kuwait and grew up in the Middle East. He studied French and German language and literature at Princeton University, taking translation worksho ...

. In Raph Cormack and Max Shmookler (eds.) ''The Book of Khartoum''. (2016) *''Al-Gharaq'' (novel, 2019), ''The Drowning,'' (2022''),'' trans. Paul G. Starkey, ISBN 978-1623719067

Awards

Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature The Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature is a literary award for Arabic literature.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 ...

(IPAF) 2015

References

External links

Interview with Hammour Ziada on Who’s Missing from ‘Arabic Booker’ Longlists
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziada, Hammour 1979 births Living people Sudanese novelists 21st-century Sudanese writers Sudanese male writers Sudanese journalists