Nuruddin Farah

On 24 November 1945, Somali writer and academic scholar Nuruddin Farah was born in Baidoa, in Italian Somaliland. His first novel, From a Crooked Rib, was published in 1970 and has been described as "one of the cornerstones of modern East African literature today". He has also written plays both for stage and radio, as well as short stories and essays. Since leaving Somalia in the 1970s he has lived and taught in numerous countries, including the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Sudan, India, Uganda, Nigeria and South Africa.

After releasing an early short story in his native Somali language, Farah shifted to writing in English while still attending university in India. The core of his oeuvre is formed by his novel trilogies. His first triology 'Variations on the theme of an African Dictatorship' containing Sweet and Sour Milk (1979), Sardines (1981) and Close Sesame (1982) was followed by a second triology  'Blood in the Sun', formed by Maps (1986), Gifts (1990) and Secrets (1998). His subsequent 'Past Imperfect' trilogy comprises Links (2005), Knots (2007), and Crossbones (2011).

Farah has received numerous awards  for his work including the Premio Cavour in Italy, the Kurt Tucholsky Prize in Germany, the Lettre Ulysses Award in Berlin, and in 1998, the prestigious Neustadt International Prize for Literature.

Besides literature, Farah is an important scholar within Somali Studies. He serves on the International Advisory Board of Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies, published by Macalester College.

(Source: Wikipedia) 

Selected publications

About Nuruddin Farah and his work

Literary provocations: Nuruddin Farah five decades on
Special issue of Tydskrif vir letterkunde, vol. 57, no. 1, 2020
Containing 17 articles about Nuruddin Farah and his work
https://www.ajol.info/index.php/tvl/issue/view/18952

Reading Nuruddin Farah : the individual, the novel & the idea of home / Fiona F. Molla. - Suffolk : Boydell & Brewer, 2014

Disorder of Things, The A Foucauldian approach to the work of Nuruddin Farah / John Masterson. - Johannesburg, South Africa : Wits University Press, 2013

The novels of Nuruddin Farah /  Derek Wright. - Bayreuth : Breitinger, cop. 2004

Emerging perspectives on Nuruddin Farah / Derek Wright. - Trenton, NJ [etc.] : Africa World Press [etc.], 2002

Nuruddin Farah / Patricia Alden; Louis Tremaine. - New York : Twayne Publishers, cop. 1999

By Nuruddin Farah 

North of dawn / Nuruddin Farah. - New York : Riverhead Books, 2018

Crossbones / Nuruddin Farah. - London : Granta, 2012

Hiding in plain sight / Nuruddin Farah. - New York : Riverhead Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA), 2014

Yesterday, tomorrow : voices from the Somali diaspora / Nuruddin Farah. - London [etc.] : Cassell, 2000

A naked needle / Nuruddin Farah. - London [etc.] : Heinemann, 1976

See also: Nuruddin Farah: Selected bibliography / F. F. Moolla. . Tydskrif Vir Letterkunde, 57(1), 2020, p. 128–135. https://doi.org/10.17159/2309-9070/tvl.v.57i1.8085
 

Nuruddin Farah and Binyavanga Wainaina in conversation, 18 April 2013

Timeline of Somali writers via Wikidata and DBpedia