Ibrahim Al-Koni

Charis Olszok (University of Cambridge)

Ed. by Dalia Mostafa, University of Manchester
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 8.1.1: North African Writing and Culture: Arabic, Anglophone, Francophone, Hispanic.
Vol. editors: Kate Averis (University of Western Australia), Lia Brozgal (University of California, Los Angeles), Helen Rachel Cousins (Birmingham Newman University), Ziad Elmarsafy (King's College London), Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Siobhán McIlvanney (King's College London), Dalia Mostafa (University of Manchester), Nora Parr (SOAS, University of London), Rita Sakr (Maynooth University)

Dates

Born 1948
Activity c. 1979-ongoing

Places

Born in Libya
Active in Libya

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Other

Journalist

Resources

Koni's Works

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Over the past thirty years, Ibrahim al-Koni, also known as al-Kawni, has forged the art of the desert novel. One of the most prolific writers in Arabic today, he has penned over forty novels and collections of short stories. The vast majority of these are set in the wider Sahara, among al-Koni’s native Tuareg, a nomadic, pastoral people, dwelling between Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. Traditionally envisioned as a transitory, barren space, the desert becomes the centre of meaning in al-Koni’s oeuvre and an allegory for human existence, itself envisioned as a solitary, interstitial state. Devoid of the basic necessities of life, the desert is a metaphorical zone, what al-Koni calls “the shadow of a place”, where the drama of existential…

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2581 words

Citation: Olszok, Charis. "Ibrahim Al-Koni". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 January 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=13307, accessed 22 November 2024.]