Ahmad Al Malik was born in 1967 in Argo, Sudan. There, he worked as a journalist and a teacher, and began to write short-stories and novels. In 1998, because of his critical stance towards the government, he was forced to leave Sudan and fled to the Netherlands, where he settled in Amsterdam. He is inspired by both the ancient and modern history of Sudan, as well as by its Arab and African heritages, highlighting the religious, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity of Sudan, as a counter-discourse to the government’s position. His novels, such as those of other important Sudanese writers like Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin or Arthur Gabriel Yak, share many common features with magical realism.
Ahmad Al Malik
Ahmad Al Malik
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أحمد الملك
Selected bibliography
- موسم سيد الرقيق, The Season of the Slaves Raid*, Al Reem Publishing House, 2019
- سبعة غرباء في المدينة, Seven Strangers in the City*, Awraq, United Arab Emirates, 2018
- الحب في مملكة الجنجويد, Love at the Time of the Janjaweed*, Awraq, United Arab Emirates, 2018
- يت في جوبا, A House in Juba*, Dar Al Hadara, Egypt, 2010
- نورا ذات الضفائر, Nurah the Girl With the Braided Hair*, Dar Azza, Sudan, 2005
- الخريف يأتي مع صفاء, The Rain Season Comes With Safa*, Arab Institute for Research and Publishing, Lebanon, 2001. French translation: Safa ou la saison des pluies, Actes Sud, France 2007 trans. by Xavier Luffin. Dutch translation: Met Safa komt de herfst, De Geus, Netherlands, 2010 trans. by Judith Wesselingh
*Working title
Translation of short stories:
- French translation:“Le char d’assaut”, in Nouvelles du Soudan, Magellan & Cie/Courrier International, France, 2009 trans. by Xavier Luffin
- English translations: “The Tank”, in The Book of Khartoum, Comma Press, United-Kingdom, 2016 trans. by Adam Talib; “Lovers don’t steal”, in Banipal issue 55, United-Kingdom, 2016 trans. by Roger Moger
Press
They say Khartoum represents a meeting point where different cultures within our country began to intermingle, but when the government decides to support some culture against the others, it starts problems and conflicts, video interview for Comma Press, July 2017
Dream Language, A Literary Talk with Ahmed Al Malik (in Dutch) by Writers Unlimited, January 2012
Book(s) featured on this site
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A story about a family and the absurdity of civil war written in the magical realism genre
Reviewed by Xavier Luffin