Farah Mohamed Jama Awl ( so, Faarax Maxamed Jaamac Cawl, ar, فارح محمد جامع عول; 1937–1991), usually credited as Farah Awl, was a Somali writer. His surname ''Cawl'' () means "gazelle", which was the nickname of his great-grandfather who was the Sultan of the

Warsangali The Warsangali ( so, Warsangeli, ar, قبيلة ورسنجلي) is a major Somali sub clan, part of the Harti clan which itself belongs to one of the largest Somali clan-families - the Darod. In the Somali language, the name Warsangali means ...

clan. The Awl family also includes the Warsangali Sultan Mohamoud Ali Shire.

Biography

Awl was born in 1937 in the town of

Las Khorey Las Khorey ( so, Laasqoray, ar, لاسقُرَى ) is a historic coastal town in the Sanaag region of Somaliland. History The Las Khorey settlement is several centuries old. Between the town and El Ayo lies Karinhegane, a site containing numer ...

in North eastern

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

. In his youth, he obtained a scholarship to study aeronautical and

automobile engineering Automotive engineering, along with aerospace engineering and naval architecture, is a branch of vehicle engineering, incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software, and safety engineering as applied to the design, manufac ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

in the United Kingdom (1959–62). Upon graduation, he moved to Somalia and worked with the

police force The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

and the National Transport Agency in

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Oc ...

. Awl's literary corpus is especially notable for its vivid description of Somalia's flora and fauna as well as its incorporation of traditional Somali poetry. He also has the distinction of being the first Somali novelist to write in the nascent

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern I ...

for the Somali language after its formalization in 1972. Awl was a member of the royal family of the Warsangali clan. Reportedly because of his membership in the

Darod The Darod ( so, Daarood, ar, دارود) is a Somali clan. The forefather of this clan was Sheikh Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti, more commonly known as ''Darood''. The clan primarily settles the apex of the Horn of Africa and its peripheries ...

clan family, Awl, along with three of his children, was killed in 1991, at the height of the civil unrest that gripped the town of

Beledweyne Beledweyne ( so, Beledweyne, ar, بلد وين, it, Belet Uen) is a city in central Somalia. Beledweyne District is the capital city of the Hiran region. The city is situated in the Shebelle Valley riverine near the Ethiopian border, 210 miles ...

in the

Hiiraan Hiran ( so, Hiiraan, ar, هيران) is an administrative region ('' gobol'') in central Somalia and part of the Hirshabelle State. Overview Hiran is bordered by the Somali Region of Ethiopia (or the 1908 Convention Line) to the northwest, ...

region. He is survived by his wife and one son, Dahir Farah.Faarax MJ Cawl, ''Ignorance is the enemy of love.'', Translated from the Somali with introduction and notes, London, Zed Books, 'New Fiction' Series. (Revised reissue of the 1982 edition), 1984

Bibliography

*''Aqoondarro waa U nacab jacayl'' ("Ignorance is the enemy of love"), 1982 *''Garbaduubkii gumeysiga'' ("The Shackles of Colonialism"), 1978 *''Dhibbanaha aan dhalan'' ("The Unborn Victim"), 1989 *''Aqoondarro waa u nacab jacayl'', 1974

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Awl, Farah 1937 births 1992 deaths Somalian novelists 20th-century novelists Sanaag

Biography

Bibliography

See also

References