Ibrahim Nasrallah

Ibrahim Nasrallah (إبراهيم نصر الله; 2 December 1954), the winner of the Arabic Booker Prize (2018), was born in 1954 to Palestinian parents who were evicted from their land in Al-Burayj, Palestine in 1948.

He spent his childhood and youth in a refugee camp in Jordan, and began his career as a teacher in Saudi Arabia.

In 1985, he started writing the Palestinian Comedy covering 250 years of modern Palestinian history in a series of novels in which each novel is an independent one; to date 13 novels have been published in the framework of this project.

Five of his novels and a volume of poetry have been published in English, nine in Persian, four works in Italian, two in Spanish, and one novel in Danish and Turkish.

Nasrallah is also an artist and photographer and has had four solo exhibitions of his photography.

He won nine prizes, and his novel Prairies of Fever was chosen by the Guardian newspaper as one of the most important ten novels written by Arabs or non-Arabs about the Arab world.

He has contributed to several exhibitions and had his own photography shows entitled The Autobiography of an Eye in 1996, and Under Two Suns: Images and Words in 2004, The Life of the Dead Sea a participation at the fifth Gwangju Biennale – South Korea 2004.

Many academic theses handled his poetry and novels.

The following dealt exclusively with his works:

Nasrallah also had poetry reading at several cultural centers in metropolitan cities such as Paris, Rome, Venice, Frankfurt, Berlin, and cities in England Denmark, Switzerland and the United States of America ...., not to mention numerous literary activities in almost all Arabic capitals.

Nasrallah also gave lectures and poetry readings at many of the local Jordanian universities as well Arabs and European universities.

His work has attracted attention among critics and international academia with 10 literary critic books, 15 PhD thesis, and around 45 Maters thesis studying his work.

After returning to Amman, he worked in the media and cultural sectors till 2006 when he dedicated his life to writing.

To date, he has published 15 poetry collections, 22 novels, and several other books.

In June 2006, Nasrallah's fourth collection of poetry Nu’man Yastariddu Lawnahu (Anemone Regains Its Colour) first published in 1984, was suddenly banned in Jordan, while Nasrallah faced charges of insulting the state, inciting dissension and reporting inaccurate information to future generations.

In an interview with The Guardian, Nasrallah commented on the charges he was facing by saying: "I was completely shocked,I did not know how to respond. All I could think of at that moment was that I needed to finish the book I was working on before things got worse. But I was unable to continue writing. I was confused and angry and also afraid."

Three of his novels were listed on the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for the years 2009, 2013, and 2014.

In 2012 he won the inaugural Jerusalem Award for Culture and Creativity for his literary work.

His books are considered one of the most influential and best seller Arabic books, as new editions are released frequently and many young readers are attracted to his books.

In January 2014, he succeeded in summiting Mount Kilimanjaro in a venture that involved two Palestinian adolescents, a boy and a girl, who have lost their legs.

The climb was in support to a nongovernmental organization dedicated to providing medical services to Palestinian and Arab children.

Nasrallah wrote about this journey in a novel entitled The Spirits of Kilimanjaro (2015).

In 2016, Nasrallah was awarded the Katara Prize for Arabic Novels for this work.

His novel The Second Dog War was awarded the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (Arabic Booker) for 2018.

In 2020 he became the first Arabic writer to be awarded the "Katara Prize" for Arabic Novels for the second time for his novel "A Tank Under the Christmas Tree".

Palestinian comedy covering 250 years of modern Palestinian history (12 novels)

Nasrallah has also written poetry for children in two collections:

As a writer and editor he has also published literary works about other Arab writers and poets which include:

Nasrallah is a regular contributor to several to the main newspapers in the Arab world.

He is also a painter and photographer.