Leila Aboulela | |
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Leila Aboulela in 2010
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Native name | ليلى ابوالعلا |
Born | 1964 Cairo, Egypt |
Occupation | Writer |
Nationality | Sudanese |
Alma mater | University of Khartoum and London School of Economics |
Subjects | Economics and Statistics |
Notable awards | Caine Prize for African Writing; Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards |
Years active | 1999-present |
Children | 2 |
Website | |
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Leila Aboulela (born 1964), Arabic 'ليلى ابوالعلا' is a Sudanese writer who writes in English. Her latest novel, The Kindness of Enemies is inspired by the life of Imam Shamil, who united the tribes of the Caucasus to fight against Russian Imperial expansion. Leila's novel Lyrics Alley, was Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards and short-listed for a Regional Commonwealth Writers Prize. She is also the author of the novels The Translator (a New York Times 100 Notable Book of the Year) and Minaret. All three novels were long-listed for the Orange Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Award. Leila Aboulela won the Caine Prize for African Writing for her short story, "The Museum", included in the collection Coloured Lights which went on to be short-listed for the Macmillan/Silver PEN award. Aboulela’s work has been translated into fourteen languages and included in publications such as Granta, The Washington Post and The Guardian. BBC Radio has adapted her work extensively and broadcast a number of her plays including The Mystic Life and the historical drama The Lion of Chechnya. The five-part radio serialization of her novel The Translator was short-listed for the RIMA (Race In the Media Award). Aboulela grew up in Khartoum and now lives in Aberdeen.
Born in 1964 in Cairo, Egypt to an Egyptian mother and a Sudanese father, Aboulela moved at the age of six weeks to Khartoum, Sudan, where she lived continuously until 1987. As a child Aboulela attended the Khartoum American School and the Sisters' School, a private Catholic high school, where she learned English. She later attended the University of Khartoum and graduated in 1985 with a degree in Economics. Aboulela was awarded an M.Sc. and an MPhil degree in Statistics from the London School of Economics.