Nuruddin Farah is one of Africa’s most significant writers, best known for the 1998 novel Secrets (from the trilogy Blood in the Sun), the Penguin Classic From a Crooked Rib (1970) and his recent book Links (2003). In prose alternatively described as exuberant, inventive, poetic, dreamlike and luminous, Farah’s preoccupations include "the dilemma of post-colonialism, the break-up of the nation states, factionalism, displacement, departure and return". Born in 1945 in Baidoa, now known as Somalia, Farah grew up speaking Somali while learning Amharic, Italian, Arabic and English. Exiled from his homeland in 1976, Farah has lived in Africa and Europe and currently resides in Cape Town. He writes in English and has dedicated his writing life to telling the story of Somalia and its people as they negotiate civil war and famine, liberation and its subsequent chaos. He also shows a pronounced empathy for the plight of women. Farah is a recipient of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the most prestigious international literary prize after the Nobel.

 

Writers International

Tue 14 Mar, 8pm

Embassy Theatre

Sat 18 Mar, 9.30am

Embassy Theatre

 

Concession Pass to 15 Writers Upfront sessions of your choice: $150 [FR $140]

 

15 Mar, 2:15pm