Mansour Bushnaf ( ar, منصور بوشناف) (born October 22, 1954) is a

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

n writer. He began his literary career as a playwright and essayist, before writing his

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

Chewing Gum (novel) ''Chewing Gum'' is the debut novel of Libyan writer Mansour Bushnaf, first published in Arabic 2008 in Cairo. It was banned by the Gaddafi regime in Libya. It was first published in English in 2014 by DARF Publishers Darf Publishers is an indep ...

'' which was banned in 2008 in

Bushnaf’s essays have appeared in the ''

Al-Hayat Al-Hayat ( ar, الحياة meaning "Life") was a London-based, pan-Arab newspaper owned by Saudi Prince Khalid bin Sultan, that had a circulation estimated over 200,000. It was the newspaper of record for the Arab diaspora and the preferred v ...

, Al-Quds Al-Arabi,

Al-Arab ''Al-Arab'' or ''Alarab'' ( ar, العرب meaning ''The Arabs'') is a pan-Arab newspaper published from London, England, and sold in a number of countries. History and profile The paper was launched in London on 1 June 1977, as a secular pan ...

'' and '' Al-Wasat''. The English translation of his novel, ''

'', was published in 2014. He currently lives and writes in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

Background

Mansour Bushnaf was born in

Bani Walid Bani Walid (Anglicized: ; ar, بني وليد, Banī Walīd, Libyan pronunciation: ) is a city in Libya located in the Misrata District. Prior to 2007, it was the capital of Sof-Aljeen District. Bani Walid has an airport. Under the Libyan Ar ...

, a small town, south-east of the Libyan capital

. He studied in

and

Misrata Misrata ( ; also spelled Misurata or Misratah; ar, مصراتة, Miṣrāta ) is a city in the Misrata District in northwestern Libya, situated to the east of Tripoli and west of Benghazi on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misrata. With ...

, where he began writing and dramatising plays for his school drama club. He began writing his essays in Libyan newspapers in the 1970s as a university student, when he was detained in 1976 by

Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

regime and spent 12 years in prison with other Libyan writers and intellectuals. After his release in 1988 Bushnaf wrote several plays that were produced to wide acclaim in Libya.

Literary career

Bushnaf wrote several plays, which were performed in Libyan theatres. his first novel, ''The Night Mirage.. Chewing Gum'' ( ar, سراب الليل.. العلكة), was published in Arabic in early 2008, by an independent publisher 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 ...

but it was soon banned by Libyan authorities from being distributed inside the country. The novel was published in June 2014 by independent publisher

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 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

with a translation by Mona Zaki.

Bibliography

* ''

Chewing Gum Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating. Its te ...

'' (novel), DARF Publishers, 2014,

References

External links

Mansour Bushnaf on 'killing books' in Libya
(interview), BBC News Africa, April 15, 2014
Winstonsdad's Review of Mansour Bushanf's Chewing Gum
Winstonsdad's Blog, May 19, 2014

Bookshy An African Book Lover blog, July 3, 2014
Nahla Ink Review of Mansour Bushnaf's Chewing Gum
Nahla Ink Blog, July 15, 2014
Ramblings of an Elfpire Review of Chewing Gum By Mansour Bushnaf
Ramblings of an Elfpire, September 30, 2014

By the Book Reviews, November 1, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bushnaf, Mansour Libyan novelists Living people Libyan writers People from Tripoli, Libya 1954 births 20th-century Libyan writers

Background

Literary career

Bibliography

See also

References

External links