His novel Warda was our book club selection for September 2001.
Find more information on the author and his work as well as interesting discussion between Sonallah and his readers on the book's page.
Sonallah Ibrahim was born in 1937. After studying law and drama at Cairo University, he became a journalist in Cairo until his arrest and imprisonment in 1959 as an advocate for the Left. His imprisonment is featured in his first book, That Smell (تلك الرائحة), which was one of the first writings in Egyptian literature to adopt a modernist tinge. Upon his release in 1964, he briefly returned to journalism in Egypt before moving to Berlin to work for a news agency and to Moscow where he studied cinematography. He returned to Egypt in 1974 and since then has dedicated all his time to writing.
In harmony with his political ideas, in 2003 he refused to accept a prestigious literary award worth 100,000 Egyptian pounds from Egypt's Ministry of Culture.
Sonallah Ibrahim has written a number of novels and short stories, as well as a dozen children's books. He has also translated a variety of books into arabic.
His book Cairo from edge to edge is a rich and highly original portrait of a city as seen through the lens of French photographer Jean Pierre Ribire and Sonallah's pen.
Ibrahim is well known for his documentary novels that employ a literary style unique in Arabic writing.
In 1998 his novel "Sharaf" was awarded best Egyptian novel.
In 1999 he was a visiting associate professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies of the University of California at Berkeley.
Sonallah's books have been translated into many languages.
Awards
Sonallah Ibrahim has received several awards in recognition of his literary career, including the Ghaleb Halasa Award from the Jordanian Writers Union in 1992, the Best Egyptian Novel Award in 1998 for his novel "Sharaf," the Ibn Rushd Prize for Free Thought in 2004, the Cavafy Prize for Literature in Egypt in 2017 (awarded to writers who have contributed to strengthening cultural understanding between Egypt and Greece), the People's Prize in 2018, and the Mahmoud Darwish Prize for Creativity in 2019.
The most famous award in Sonallah Ibrahim's literary career was the Arabic Novel Award in October 2003, when he announced his refusal from the stage of the Cairo Opera House in protest against normalization with Israel, in the presence of dozens of Egyptian and Arab intellectuals.
Selected Works
Tilka Al Raiha (The Smell of It) Included in The Smell of It & Other Stories, translation. Denys Johnson-Davies (1971); also retranslated in That Smell & Notes from Prison, Robin Creswell (New Directions, 2013) :
His first novella - published in 1966 - which he wrote after spending several years in one of Nasser's political prisons. The novella paved the way for the emergence of a new style of Arabic literature which relies less on wordiness and more on emotions and feelings. Because of its strong political messages, it was banned immediately after publication and was unavailable for 20 years.
Star of August Syria 1974, Cairo 1986
The committee Beirut 1981, Cairo 1998 , translation Charlene Constable and Mary St. Germain (Syracuse University Press, 2001). Tells the story of an intellectual who confronts a mysterious committee which serves the interests of the multinationals. The satirical novel ends in the writer biting his arm and eventually eating himself!
Beirut Beirut Dar elmostakbal el-Arabi 1984 translation Chip Rossetti (Bloomsbury Qatar, 2014)
Zaat 1992 translation Anthony Calderbank (American University in Cairo Press, 2001).
Sharaf - Hilal 1997, 2000 awarded best Egyptian novel in 1998.
Warda 2000. translation Hosam Aboul-Ela (Yale University Press, 2021)
Amrikanli 2003
Memoirs from the Oasis Prison (يوميات الواحات) (2005)
التلصص [al-Talassus] (2007). Stealth, trans. Hosam Aboul-Ela (Aflame Books, 2009; New Directions, 2011).
Two Novels and Two Women/Zwei Romane und zwei Frauen, trans. Barbera Hess (Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2011).
العمامة والقبعة [al-ʿImama wa- al-Qubbaʿa] (2008). The Turban and the Hat, trans. Bruce Fudge (Seagull Books, 2022.)
القانون الفرنسي [al-Qanun al-Faransi] (2008). The French Law.
الجليد [al-Jalid] (2011). Ice, trans. Margaret Litvin (Seagull Books, 2019).
1970 (2020). 1970: The Last Days, trans. Eleanor Ellis (Seagull Books, 2024)
