Leila Aboulela

Afrikanska kärleksberättelser – finns de? Ama Ata Aidoo skriver i sitt förord om hur afrikanska författare förväntas skriva om militärregimer, förlegade traditioner, hungersnöd. Så har föreställningen vunnit mark att det inte skrivs om kärlek i Afrika, både i västvärlden och bland de egna intellektuella. Kärlek x 21 visar tydligt att den afrikanska kärleksnovellen lever i vår samtid. Här skriver flera av kontinentens främsta kvinnliga författare om allt mellan födslosmärtor och begravningar; tonårens våndor och ålderdomens krämpor; samkönade relationer och förhållanden som drabbas av rasfördomar. Inte minst slår samlingen hål på myten om den afrikanska kvinnan som ett fattigt offer. Genom hela antologin bultar det mänskliga hjärtat: belägrat och blödande, oförskräckt och ibland triumferande. Närma dig novellerna en i sänder, då kan du höra kvinnornas inre röster var och en för sig.

A story about family, ageing, fresh starts and the beautiful things that happen when we least expect them to. Suad misses her husband. He died unexpectedly during an argument at work, and she never got to say goodbye. But Suad knows she is lucky. Her three children have promised to look after her. After several false starts, Suad receives a warm welcome from her oldest son and settles down with his family in the countryside. Everything goes smoothly – at first. Her grandchildren love her crunchy, homemade falafel and watching TV together. But as time goes on, things between Suad and her daughter-in-law grow tense. Soon, her daughter-in-law stops giving her lifts into town. She accuses Suad of interfering with how she raises her children. Then she won’t talk to Suad. Finally, she asks her to leave the house. For the first time, Suad is on her own. Determined to make the best of it, Suad makes a new life for herself. How can she budget for just one person? How can she fill the long hours? And will her new neighbours warm to her?

The spellbinding new novel from New York Times Notable Author and Caine Prize winner Leila Aboulela about an embattled young woman's coming of age during the Mahdist War in 19th century Sudan.Leila Aboulela, hailed as "a versatile prose stylist" (New York Times) has also been praised by J.M. Coetzee, Ali Smith, and Ben Okri, among others, for her rich and nuanced novels depicting Islamic spiritual and political life. Her new novel is an enchanting narrative of the years leading up to the British conquest of Sudan in 1898, and a deeply human look at the tensions between Britain and Sudan, Christianity and Islam, colonizer and colonized. In River Spirit, Aboulela gives us the unforgettable story of a people who--against the odds and for a brief time--gained independence from foreign rule through their willpower, subterfuge, and sacrifice.When Akuany and her brother Bol are orphaned in a village raid in South Sudan, they're taken in by a young merchant Yaseen who promises to care for them, a vow that tethers him to Akuany through their adulthood. As a revolutionary leader rises to power - the self-proclaimed Mahdi, prophesied redeemer of Islam - Sudan begins to slip from the grasp of Ottoman rule, and everyone must choose a side. A scholar of the Qur'an, Yaseen feels beholden to stand against this false Mahdi, even as his choice splinters his family. Meanwhile, Akuany moves through her young adulthood and across the country alone, sold and traded from house to house, with Yaseen as her inconsistent lifeline. Everything each of them is striving for - love, freedom, safety - is all on the line in the fight for Sudan.Through the voices of seven men and women whose fates grow inextricably linked, Aboulela's latest novel illuminates a fraught and bloody reckoning with the history of a people caught in the crosshairs of imperialism. River Spirit is a powerful tale of corruption, coming of age, and unshakeable devotion - to a cause, to one's faith, and to the people who become family.

1880s Sudan. When Akuany and her brother are orphaned in a village raid, they are taken in by Yaseen, a young merchant whose vow to care for them will tether him to Akuany throughout their lives. As revolution brews, Sudan begins to prise itself from its Ottoman rulers, and everyone must choose sides. Yaseen feels beholden to stand against the self-proclaimed Mahdi, a decision that threatens to splinter his family. Meanwhile, Akuany grows into womanhood and travels alone across the fractured country, sold and traded from house to house, with only Yaseen as her intermittent lifeline. Their struggle will mirror the increasingly bloody struggle for Sudan itself: for freedom, safety and the possibility of love. River Spirit is a powerful tale of corruption and unshakeable devotion – to a cause, to one’s faith and to the people who become family.

The spellbinding new novel from New York Times Notable Author and Caine Prize winner Leila Aboulela about an embattled young woman's coming of age during the Mahdist War in 19th century Sudan.Leila Aboulela, hailed as "a versatile prose stylist" (New York Times) has also been praised by J.M. Coetzee, Ali Smith, and Ben Okri, among others, for her rich and nuanced novels depicting Islamic spiritual and political life. Her new novel is an enchanting narrative of the years leading up to the British conquest of Sudan in 1898, and a deeply human look at the tensions between Britain and Sudan, Christianity and Islam, colonizer and colonized. In River Spirit, Aboulela gives us the unforgettable story of a people who--against the odds and for a brief time--gained independence from foreign rule through their willpower, subterfuge, and sacrifice.When Akuany and her brother Bol are orphaned in a village raid in South Sudan, they're taken in by a young merchant Yaseen who promises to care for them, a vow that tethers him to Akuany through their adulthood. As a revolutionary leader rises to power - the self-proclaimed Mahdi, prophesied redeemer of Islam - Sudan begins to slip from the grasp of Ottoman rule, and everyone must choose a side. A scholar of the Qur'an, Yaseen feels beholden to stand against this false Mahdi, even as his choice splinters his family. Meanwhile, Akuany moves through her young adulthood and across the country alone, sold and traded from house to house, with Yaseen as her inconsistent lifeline. Everything each of them is striving for - love, freedom, safety - is all on the line in the fight for Sudan.Through the voices of seven men and women whose fates grow inextricably linked, Aboulela's latest novel illuminates a fraught and bloody reckoning with the history of a people caught in the crosshairs of imperialism. River Spirit is a powerful tale of corruption, coming of age, and unshakeable devotion - to a cause, to one's faith, and to the people who become family.

When Akuany and her brother are orphaned in a village raid, they're taken in by a young merchant Yaseen who promises to care for them, a vow that tethers him to Akuany through their adulthood. As revolution begins to brew, led by the self-proclaimed Mahdi, Sudan begins to prise itself from Ottoman rule, and everyone must choose a side. Yaseen feels beholden to stand against this false Mahdi, a decision that threatens to splinter his family. Meanwhile, Akuany moves through her young adulthood and across the country alone, sold and traded from house to house, with only Yaseen as her intermittent lifeline. Their struggle mirrors the increasingly bloody struggle for Sudan itself - for freedom, safety and the possibility of love. River Spirit illuminates a fraught and bloody reckoning with the history of a people caught in the crosshairs of imperialism. This is a powerful tale of corruption, coming of age and unshakeable devotion - to a cause, to one's faith and to the people who become family.

In her adventurous new novel, New York Times notable author Leila Aboulela delivers a lively portrait of three women who embark on a journey of self-discovery while grappling with the conflicting demands of family, duty, and faith.When Salma, Moni, and Iman―friends and active members of their local Muslim women's group―decide to take a road trip together to the Scottish Highlands, they leave behind lives often dominated by obligation, frustrated desire, and dull predictability. Each wants something more out of life, but fears the cost of taking it. Salma is successful and happily married, but tempted to risk it all when she's contacted by her first love back in Egypt; Moni gave up a career in banking to care for her disabled son without the help of her indifferent husband; and Iman, in her twenties and already on her third marriage, longs for the freedom and autonomy she's never known. When the women are visited by the Hoopoe, a sacred bird from Muslim and Celtic literature, they are compelled to question their relationships to faith and femininity, love, loyalty, and sacrifice.Brilliantly imagined, thoughtful and wise, Bird Summons confirms Leila Aboulela's reputation as one of our finest contemporary writers.

In her adventurous new novel, New York Times Notable author Leila Aboulela delivers a lively portrait of three women who embark on a journey of self-discovery while grappling with the conflicting demands of family, duty, and faith. When Salma, Moni, and Iman--friends and active members of their local Muslim Women's group--decide to take a road trip together to the Scottish Highlands, they leave behind lives often dominated by obligation, frustrated desire, and dull predictability. Each wants something more out of life, but fears the cost of taking it. Salma is successful and happily married, but tempted to risk it all when she's contacted by her first love back in Egypt; Moni gave up a career in banking to care for her disabled son without the help of her indifferent husband; and Iman, in her twenties and already on her third marriage, longs for the freedom and autonomy she's never known. When the women are visited by the Hoopoe, a sacred bird from Muslim and Celtic literature, they are compelled to question their relationships to faith and femininity, love, loyalty, and sacrifice. Brilliantly imagined, thoughtful and wise, Bird Summons confirms Leila Aboulela's reputation as one of our finest contemporary writers.

An enchanting, deeply felt portrait of three women searching for freedom, from the three-times Orange Prize longlisted, Scottish Book Award and Caine Prize winner Leila Aboulela.

An enchanting, deeply-felt portrait of three women searching for freedom, from the three-times Orange Prize longlisted, Scottish Book Award and Caine Prize winner Leila Aboulela.

In her new collection of stories, award-winning New York Times Notable author Leila Aboulela offers us a rich tableau of life as an immigrant abroad, and the challenges of navigating assimilation and difference. Elsewhere, Home draws us ineluctably into the lives of her characters as they forge new identities and reshape old ones. A young woman's encounter with a former classmate elicits painful reminders of her former life in Khartoum. A wealthy Sudanese student studying in Aberdeen begins an unlikely friendship with a Scottish man. A woman experiences an evolving relationship to her favorite writer, whose portrait of their shared culture both reflects and conflicts with her own sense of identity. Shuttling between the dusty, sunbaked streets of Khartoum and the university halls and cramped apartments of Aberdeen and London, Elsewhere, Home explores, with subtlety and restraint, the profound feelings of yearning, loss, and alienation that come with leaving one's homeland in pursuit of a different life.

Winner of the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year 2018; Longlisted for The People's Book Prize 2018; From one of our finest contemporary writers whose work has been praised by J.M. Coetzee, Ali Smith and Aminatta Forna, Leila Aboulela's Elsewhere, Home offers us a rich tableau of life as an immigrant abroad, attempting to navigate the conflicts of assimilation and difference in an unfamiliar world. A young woman's encounter with a former classmate elicits painful reminders of her former life in Khartoum. A wealthy Sudanese student in Aberdeen begins an unlikely friendship with a Scottish man. A woman experiences an evolving relationship to her favourite writer, whose portrait of their shared culture both reflects and conflicts with her own sense of identity. Shuttling between the dusty, sun-baked streets of Khartoum and the university halls and cramped apartments of Aberdeen and London, Elsewhere, Home explores, with subtlety and restraint, the profound feelings of yearning, loss and alienation that come with leaving one's homeland in pursuit of a different life.

"An absorbing novel . . . reminds us of the complexity of the web woven by those threads of faith, nationality, politics and history."--New York Times Book Review"Aboulela has written a book for grown-ups... that speaks more forcefully than a thousand opinion pieces...she has done more than breathe life into legend." --San Francisco ChronicleFrom the first ever winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing, Leila Aboulela, The Kindness of Enemies is a powerful historical journey across time and continents and a riveting epic of love, betrayal, and war. It's 2010 and Natasha, a half-Russian, half-Sudanese professor of history, is researching the life of Imam Shamil, the nineteenth century Muslim leader who led the anti-Russian resistance in the Caucasian War. When Natasha discovers her star student, Osama (Oz), is not only descended from the warrior but also possesses Shamil's legendary sword, the Imam's story comes vividly to life. But when Oz is suddenly arrested at his home one morning, Natasha realizes that everything she values stands in jeopardy. Told with Aboulela's inimitable elegance, The Kindness of Enemies is both an engrossing story of a provocative period in history and an important examination of what it is to be a Muslim in a post-9/11 world. "A rich, multilayered story, a whole syllabus of compelling topics. As a novelist, Aboulela moves confidently between dramatizing urgent, contemporary issues and providing her audience with sufficient background to follow these discussions about the changing meaning of jihad, the history of Sufism and the racial politics of the war on terror."--Washington Post"Riveting . . . [this novel] hums in hushed and meditative tones through prisoners of war in historic and contemporary fantasy rooted in reality."--Los Angeles Times

For fans of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and THE NARROW ROAD TO THE DEEP NORTH, a sweeping new novel from the three times Orange Prize longlisted, Scottish Book Award and Caine Prize winner Leila Aboulela.

Lyrics Alley is the evocative story of an affluent Sudanese family shaken by the shifting powers in their country and the near-tragedy that threatens the legacy they've built for decades. In 1950's Sudan, the powerful Abuzeid dynasty has amassed a fortune through their trading firm. With Mahmoud Bey at its helm, they can do no wrong. But when Mahmoud's son, Nur, the brilliant, handsome heir to the business empire, suffers a debilitating accident, the family stands divided in the face of an uncertain future. As British rule nears its end, the country is torn between modernizing influences and the call of traditions past--a conflict reflected in the growing tensions between Mahmoud's two wives: the younger, Nabilah, longs to return to Egypt and escape "backward-looking" Sudan; while Waheeba lives traditionally behind veils and closed doors. It's not until Nur asserts himself outside the cultural limits of his parents that his own spirit and the frayed bonds of his family begin to mend. Moving from Sudanese alleys to cosmopolitan Cairo and a decimated postcolonial Britain, this sweeping tale of desire, loss, despair, and reconciliation is one of the most accomplished portraits ever written about Sudanese society at the time of independence.

A lyrical and moving novel by a three-times ORANGE-listed rising star, set in 1950s Sudan and Egypt.

Sammar is a young Sudanese widow, working as an Arabic translator at a British university. Estranged from her son, she drifts, grieving and isolated. Life takes a positive turn when she finds herself falling in love with Rae, a Scottish academic. To Sammar, he seems to come from another world and another culture, yet they are drawn to each other.

De senaste åren har en rad muslimska författare i England skapat något av en ny genre. Dessa författare känner inget behov av att förklara eller göra satir av islam. Inte heller har de den insmickrande ton som karaktäriserar många berättelser om identitet och kulturkollisioner. De skriver från insidan om hur det är att vara troende muslim i dagens västerländska samhälle. Leila Aboulela är en av de mest framträdande av dessa nya röster. Med sin slöja och nedslagna blick är Najwa osynlig för andra, inte minst för de välbärgade London­familjer vars barn och hem hon tar hand om. Tjugo år tidigare hade allting varit annorlunda. Då tillhörde hon själv en rik sekulariserad familj i Sudan. Hon studerade på universitetet i Khartoum. Hennes framtid såg ljus ut.Men så en dag vänds allt uppochned. Najwa tvingas fly landet. Hon kommer till London och där fortsätter hennes fall - ett fall som inte slutar förrän hon hamnat på samhällets botten. Till sin egen förvåning börjar hon då känna en dragning till de människor som besöker den lokala moskén, människor som hon i sitt tidigare liv sett ner på. Här finner Najwa sig tillrätta och skapar sig ett nytt liv och en ny trygghet - tills hon en dag blir mer än synlig för den unge sonen hos sin nya arbetsgivare. UR SVENSKA RECENSIONER "Aldrig trodde jag att en roman som handlar om en sudanesisk kvinna och hennes andliga liv skulle kunna vara en sträckläsningsroman. Och ändå ligger jag där sent på natten, lampan tänd och ögon som rinner av trötthet och en bok som betvingar ... Minaret är, kort sagt, en underbar roman." Maria Broberg i Västerbottens-Kuriren "Aboulela visar upp religionens, i det här fallet islams, existentiella och helande dimensioner på ett så djupt mänskligt och mångfacetterat sätt att även den mest förhärdade av ateister måste känna sig berörd." Magnus Persson i SvD "Äntligen har den sudanesiska författaren Leila Aboulela översatts till svenska! Hon representerar en ny trend i den postkoloniala litteraturen självsäkrare och mognare. Medan Monica Ali et consortes i första hand inriktade sig på att flörta med en västerländsk publik utan någon kontakt med muslimer vid sidan om de fyrkantiga klichéerna i media, skriver Aboulela för en mer kritisk läsekrets. Europa har förändrats. Det finns numera en ung generation europeiska muslimer som är bildade och välintegrerade. De kommer också att vilja köpa romaner och förlagen inser att deras läsbehov inte kan tillfredställas med de gamla trötta Pocahontasmotiven från 'inte-utan-min-dotter'-skrönorna. Jag läste romanen i ett sträck; omskakad, gripen, renad." Mohamed Omar på sin blogg INTERNATIONELLA RÖSTER OM BOKEN "Genom att beskriva sin hjältinnas religiösa omvändelse och andliga hängivenhet tar Aboulela en stor risk - men hon lyckas på ett lysande sätt. Minaret är en fantastisk, modig och utmanande roman." Guardian"Skriven med sensibilitet och elegans - en gripande historia om en kvinnas spirituella uppvaknande." Imago"Underbart skriven; återhållen och poetisk - Minaret är både tankeväckande och oroande." Independent OM LEILA ABOULELA Leila Aboulela (född 1964) växte upp i Khartoum i Sudan. Hon kom till London på åttiotalet. Idag är hon bosatt i Förenade Arabemiraten. Hon har hittills givit ut två romaner och en novellsamling. Den första romanen, The Translator, har kallats Englands första halalroman. Minaret nominerades 2006 till Orange Prize for Fiction, ett av Storbritanniens mest prestigefulla litterära pris.

When Sammar, a Sudanese widow living alone in Aberdeen and working as an Arabic translator at a Scottish university, takes a job with Rae, a Scottish Islamic scholar, she finds herself falling in love, despite his lack in faith in all she holds sacred, in the first North American edition of the first novel by the acclaimed author of Minaret. Original. 25,000 first printing.