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Hammour Ziada

ハムール・ジアダ

Hammour Ziada

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1979-01-01 （Omdurman, Sudan）
Nationality
Sudanese
Languages
Arabic
Residence History
Omdurman, Sudan → Cairo, Egypt

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Journalist, Civil society and human rights researcher
Active Years
2008-

Awards

Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature
2014
Work: The Longing of the Dervish (Shawq al-darwīsh)
Organization: Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature (organizers)
Result: 受賞
International Prize for Arabic Fiction (shortlist)
2015
Work: The Longing of the Dervish (Shawq al-darwīsh)
Organization: International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF)
Result: ショートリスト（ノミネート）

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

A Life Story from Omdurman

2008 Short stories

A collection of short stories set in Omdurman exploring urban life, memory, and social change.

urban lifememorysocial change

Al-Kunj

2010 Novel

An early novel intertwining personal history and social history.

historyindividual and society

Sleeping at the Foot of the Mountain

2014 Short stories

A short-story collection; the story "Sleeping at the Foot of the Mountain" served as the basis for a feature film.

traditionsocial oppressioncoming of age
Adaptations
  • [Film] You Will Die at Twenty / Amjad Abu Alala (2019)
Translations
  • The short story "The Void" appeared in the anthology The Book of Khartoum (trans. Kareem James Abu-Zeid, 2016)

The Longing of the Dervish

2014 Historical novel / Fiction

Set during the Mahdist state, the novel intertwines a love story with themes of war, fanaticism, slavery and questions of race, presenting a layered evocation of oppression.

historyloveviolenceraceoppression
Translations
  • English translation by Jonathan Wright (2016)

The Drowning

2019 Novel

Set in a riverside Sudanese town shortly before the 1968 coup, the novel examines the social repercussions mediated by the Nile. English translation by Paul G. Starkey (2022).

the Nilepoliticscommunityviolence
Translations
  • English translation by Paul G. Starkey (2022)

Bibliography

  • A Life Story from Omdurman (short stories, 2008)
  • Al-Kunj (novel, 2010)
  • Sleeping at the Foot of the Mountain (short stories, 2014)
  • Shawq al-darwīsh / The Longing of the Dervish (novel, 2014)
  • Al-Gharaq / The Drowning (novel, 2019)

Adaptations

  • Feature film You Will Die at Twenty (dir. Amjad Abu Alala, 2019), based on Ziada's short story "Sleeping at the Foot of the Mountain"

Translations of Works

  • The Longing of the Dervish — English translation by Jonathan Wright (2016)
  • The Drowning — English translation by Paul G. Starkey (2022)
  • The short story "The Void" — English translation by Kareem James Abu-Zeid, in The Book of Khartoum (2016)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Realistic yet lyrical prose intertwining history and personal narrativeSocially critical perspective
Recurring Motifs
the Nile / watermemory and the pastviolence and oppressioncommunity ties

Legacy

Considered one of the significant contemporary Sudanese writers, Ziada is praised for weaving social critique and regional memory into historical narratives. His short story inspired an award-winning film, extending his impact into popular culture.

In Popular Culture

  • The film You Will Die at Twenty, based on his short story, won awards at international film festivals and brought wider attention to his work.

Quotes

  • The paradise river carried wooden boats, conquerors’ barges, the corpses of the drowned, and the victims of massacres. Married couples, children after circumcision, and women after childbirth plunged into it….The paradise river often dried up and destroyed. But every time it went back to what it had been: a gentle river, coming from paradise.
    Source: The Drowning (2022)

Trivia

  • His short story "Sleeping at the Foot of the Mountain" was the basis for the film You Will Die at Twenty, which won awards at Venice and other international festivals.
  • Won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature in 2014.
  • Shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) in 2015.