Graduate of the Literary Institute named after. Gorky became “cultural person of the year” in Sharjah

Libyan writer Ibrahim Al-Kuni, born in the desert, lived in Russia until the early 90s

At the 42nd Sharjah International Book Fair, the title of “Cultural Person of the Year” was awarded to the writer and graduate of the Institute of Literature. Gorky Ibrahim Al-Kuni. At a meeting with readers, he spoke about the spirit of the desert, which feeds him all his life.

Two years ago, the title of “Cultural Person of the Year” was awarded to the Kuwaiti writer Taleb Alrefai, who began his literary career under the influence of the novel “Mother” by Maxim Gorky. He became acquainted with the prose of the Russian writer as a teenager.

Alrefai’s life path resembles the fate of Gorky himself. Taleb admitted that thanks to Gorky, he learned that there was some other life and culture, not the same as in Kuwait, where he grew up and was brought up. He read “Mother” in an Arabic translation, then moved from Gorky to Pushkin and Tolstoy.

In 2023, the Libyan writer and journalist Ibrahim Al-Kuni, whose biography is connected with the USSR, where he arrived in 1970, was declared “Cultural Person of the Year”. The future writer was born in 1948 in the desert and belongs to the nomadic people – the Tuaregs. In Moscow in 1977, Al-Kuni graduated from the Literary Institute. Gorky, learned Russian, and then worked as a journalist in Poland and the Libyan embassy in Moscow. Since 1993 he has lived in Switzerland.

Ibrahim Al-Kuni wrote a total of 81 literary works – novels, essays, journalism. They have been translated into 40 languages. His works are dedicated to the Tuaregs living in the Sahara, the desert, the relationship between man and camel, as in the novel “A Grain of Gold,” written in 1990, apparently when he was still living in Moscow.

In Sharjah, meeting with readers, Al Kuni also talked about the desert. One of his novels is called “Demons of the Desert.” As they say in Sharjah, it is like a spiritual haven for him. According to the writer, the desert is not a place, but the spirit of a place. “She is my compass, teacher and healer. She gave me her stories,” Al Cooney said. He knows eight languages. Among them are Russian, English, Polish, German, Spanish, Latin, and writes in Arabic.

Al Kuni was a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times and was awarded literary prizes in Switzerland, France, Libya, and Morocco. He lives the life of a nomad, as they call nomads here. Having lived for many years in Europe, Ibrahim Al-Kuni argues that every immigrant is a seeker of freedom, and all the prophets, including Adam, were immigrants.

Among the guests of the fair are the 89-year-old Yoruba, the first African writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, the Nigerian poet and playwright, and political activist Wole Soyinka. He wrote 45 plays, poems, novels and essays and also lived in different countries.

In the late 1950s, Soyinka moved to the UK, lived there for six years, worked in London at the Royal Court Theater, and wrote plays. In 1960 he returned to his homeland, where he was actively involved in theatrical activities, wrote poetry, and worked as a journalist. He was arrested several times in Nigeria. This happened for the first time in 1967. Then he spent 22 months in prison. Accused more than once of anti-state activities and separatism, he was forced to leave Nigeria, but returned after the change of power. In 1994, he was sentenced to death in absentia in Nigeria for treason, and he was forced to emigrate to the United States. Throughout his life, Soyinka remains a rebellious man. He gave up his US residency permit after Donald Trump came to power.

Wole Soyinka writes poetry in his native language, Yoruba, and prose and plays in English. A film was made based on his prison memories, in which he played the main role. His poetry collection “Poems from Prison” was also published. Soyinka is the father of six children. Lives between Nigeria and California.