Najat El Hachmi

Najat El Hachmi (born in Morocco on July 2, 1979) is a Moroccan-Spanish writer. She holds a degree in Arabic Studies from the University of Barcelona. She is the author of a personal essay on her bicultural identity, and three previous novels, the first of which earned her the 2008 Ramon Llull Prize, the 2009 Prix Ulysse, and was a finalist for the 2009 Prix Méditerranée Étranger.

Life

At the age of 8 she immigrated with her family to Catalonia, Spain. El Hachmi studied Arab literature at the University of Barcelona and currently resides in Granollers.
She began writing when she was twelve years old and has continued ever since, first as entertainment, and later as a means to express concerns or to reflect and re-create her own reality, in the (at least) two cultures to which she belongs.

Career

Her first book, ''Jo també sóc catalana'' (I am also Catalan, 2004), was strictly autobiographical, dealing with the issue of identity, and the growth of her sense of belonging to her new country. In 2005, she participated in an event sponsored by the European Institute of the Mediterranean, along with other Catalan writers of foreign descent, including Matthew Tree, Salah Jamal, Laila Karrouch and Mohamed Chaib. During the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2007, where Catalan culture was the featured guest of honour, she traveled to various German cities to participate in conferences in which she offered her perspective on contemporary Catalan literature. El Hachmi has made frequent appearances in the media, including Catalunya Radio, and the newspaper '' Vanguardia''.

In 2008, she won one of the most prestigious award in Catalan letters, the Ramon Llull prize, for her novel '' L'últim patriarca'' (The Last Patriarch). The novel tells the story of a Moroccan who immigrates to Spain, a sometimes despotic patriarch who enters into conflict with his daughter, who breaks with the traditional values of the old country to adapt to the new, modern culture in which she finds herself. EVERLY, Kathryn (2014): "Rethinking the Home and Rejecting the Past: A Feminist Reading of Najat El Hachmi's L'últim patriarca", Ambitos Feministas, vol. 4 no.4, pp.45-59.

Works

*2004 ' am also Catalan Columna Edicions. .
*2008 '. Editorial Planeta. .
**English translation: 2010 ''The Last Patriarch''. London: Serpent's tail. .
*2008 «L'home que nedava» he man who swam short story in ''El llibre de la Marató: Vuit relats contra les malalties mentals greus''. Columna Edicions. .
*2011 ''La caçadora de cossos''. Editorial Planeta. .
**English translation: 2013 ''The Body Hunter''. Serpent's Tail, 2013.
*2015 ''La filla estrangera'', Edicions 62. .
*2018 ''Mare de llet i mel''. Edicions 62. .
*2021 ' (the work won the 77th Nadal Prize under the fictional title ''Intrusas'', signed by the pen name of "Cristina López")
*2023 ''Mère de lait et de miel'' édition Verdier. .

Awards

*2008 — Ramon Llull prize for ''The Last Patriarch''
*2021 — Nadal Prize for ''El lunes nos querrán''

References

Further reading

* EVERLY, Kathryn (2011): "Immigrant Identity and Intertextuality in L'ultim patriarca by Najat El Hachmi", Cuaderno Internacional de Estudios Humanísticos y Literatura (CIEHL), vol. 16, pp, 142-50.
* FOLKART, Jessica A. (2013): “Scoring the National Hym(e)n: Sexuality, Immigration, and Identity in Najat El Hachmi’s ''L’últim patriarca''.” ''Hispanic Review'' 81.3. pp. 353-76.
* FOLKART, Jessica A. (2014): ''Liminal Fiction at the Edge of the Millennium: The Ends of Spanish Identity''. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press.
* PHILLIPPS, Haarlson y Philip LEVINE (2012): “The Word Hunter: Interview with Najat el Hachmi”, en ID. ''The best of Barcelona'' INK, Barcelona, pp. 106-108.
* POMAR-AMER, Miquel (2014): "Voices emerging from the border. A reading of the autobiographies by Najat El Hachmi and Saïd El Kadaoui as political interventions", PLANETA LITERATUR. JOURNAL OF GLOBAL LITERARY STUDIES 1/2014, 33-52, online, http://www.planeta-literatur.com/uploads/2/0/4/9/20493194/pl_1_2014_33_52.pdf
* SONG, Rosi H. (2014): “Narrating identity in Najat El Hachmi’s L’últim patriarca”, en AIELLO, Lucia, Joy CHARNLEY y Mariangela PALLADINO (eds.), ''Displaced women. Multilingual Narratives of Migration in Europe''. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
* RICCI, Cristián H. (2010): "L’últim patriarca de Najat El Hachmi y el forjamiento de la identidad amazigh-catalana.” Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies 11.1 pp. 71-91. http://cristianhricci.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/journal_spanish_cultural.pdf
* RICCI, Cristián H. (2017): “The Reshaping of Postcolonial Iberia: Moroccan and Amazigh Literatures in the Peninsula.” Hispanófila 180. pp. 21-40. http://cristianhricci.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/02_180Ricci.pdf

External links

*
Najat El Hachmi booksLibrary Thing

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hachmi, Najat El
Writers from Catalonia
Exophonic writers
Spanish women writers
University of Barcelona alumni
Living people
1979 births
Moroccan writers
People from Nador
Spanish people of Moroccan-Berber descent