Catalogue of a Private Life

كتالوج حياة خاصة

(Katalug hayat khassa)

Written by

Najwa Bin Shatwan

(نجوة بن شتوان)

Published by

Dar Athar

2018

(Saudi Arabia)

The impact of conflict on everyday life in Libya

A collection of eight short stories that dissect the senselessness of war in contemporary Libyan society by placing the details of everyday life in an absurd dimension. Conflict is embodied by the family disputes and the village truces in “The Burglar in White Socks” and “The Young Cow Crossed the Field”, while the titular story “Catalogue of a Private Life” and “Conventions for the Protection of Pestles” depict the interaction between the military and ordinary people. “When can we go home?” is a touching account of survival amid total destruction. The other three short stories reveal the incongruity of serious political issues and question our gaze.

The setting of these stories is often undefined: if a town or a city is mentioned, it is not described in detail, but rather transposed into a dream-like atmosphere through storytelling. The witty observation of these places allows the author to critically address issues such as patriarchy, religion, a quest for identity, and resistance.

Approximate number of pages: 80p.

Foreign rights: contact the author

Classification

Categories: fiction & short stories

Genres: humour, satire

Tags: (civil) war, conflict, exile, family, identity, Libya, religion, resistance, rural & urban

Time periods: 21th century

Translation samples

Italian

Cristina Dozio

download

Reasons to publish this book

Najwa Binshatwan is one of the few Libyan authors in contemporary Arabic literature and this book exemplifies her ability at short story writing. In spite of its weighty theme, this collection is witty, full of emotional tension, and accessible. It challenges the conventional image of Libya by tackling conflict and migration in an unusual way with a subtle dark tone. It would appeal to any country that has dealt with the Libyan political crisis and international routes of migration.

Translations

English
translation
by Sawad Hussain
published as
Catalogue of a Private Life in the United Kingdom in 2021 by Dedalus

Prizes and awards

In 2003 she received the Arab Creativity Prize at the Sharjah Festival.
In 2005, her novel The Horses’ Hair won the inaugural Sudanese al-Begrawiya Festival prize, when Khartoum was Capital of Arab Culture.
In 2009, she was chosen as one of the 39 best Arab authors under the age of 40 by the Beirut39 project and her story “The Pool and the Piano” was included in the Beirut39 anthology published by Bloomsbury in 2010.
In 2017, her novel The Slave Yards was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF).
In 2018, she was selected for the 2018 Banipal Writing Fellowship Residency at the University of Durham.
In 2019, An Ongoing Coincidence was longlisted for the AlMultaqa Prize for the Arabic Short Story
In the same year, Catalogue of a Private Life won the English PEN Translates grant.
Her short story “The Sharp Bend at Al-Bakur” was awarded the ArabLit magazine Story Prize in 2019.
In 2023, Concerto Qurina Eduardo was longlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction

Press

“‘Catalogue of a Private Life’: Eight ordinary stories with extraordinary insight”

review by Manal Shakir, ArabNews, March 2022

«Shatwan writes beautifully. Her style is pared down to bare essentials. No flowery excess. I found it fascinating that the spareness of the language actually made the stories otherworldly and captivating. »

“Stories Deeper Than Parables”, review by Ainehi Edoro, Brittle Paper, June 2022

“Najwa Bin Shatwan: كتالوج حياة خاصة (Catalogue of a Private Life)”

The Modern Novel

Reviewed by Cristina Dozio