Name Mohammed Alwan | Role Short story writer | |
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Saudi writer wins International Prize for Arabic Fiction
Mohammed Hasan Alwan (born 27 August 1979) is a Saudi Arabian novelist. He was born in Riyadh and studied Computer Information Systems at King Saud University, obtaining a bachelor's degree in 2002. He also obtained an MBA from the University of Portland, Oregon in 2008 and Ph.D from Carleton University, Ottawa in 2016.
Contents
Alwan has published five novels to date: Saqf Elkefaya (2002), Sophia (2004), Touq Altahara (2007), "Al-Qundus" (2011), and "Mouton Sageer" (2016). His work has appeared in translation in Banipal magazine ("Blonde Grass" and "Statistics", translated by Ali Azeriah); in The Guardian ("Oil Field", translated by Peter Clark); and in Words Without Borders ("Mukhtar", translated by William M. Hutchins).
His work was published in the Beirut39 anthology (Beirut39: New Writing from the Arab World, edited by Samuel Shimon) and in the IPAF Nadwa anthology (Emerging Arab Voices, edited by Peter Clark).
Awards and honors
In 2009-10, Alwan was chosen as one of the 39 best Arab authors under the age of 40 by the Beirut39 project. He was also a participant in the first IPAF Nadwa in 2009.
In 2013, his novel, Al-Qundus, was shortlisted in the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (2013). In 2015, Alwan won the Arab World Institute’s Prix de la Littérature Arabe for Al-Qundus, translated to French by Stéphanie Dujols. In 2017, he won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for A Small Death.