Alawiya Sobh

Alawiya Sobh (Arabic: علوية صبح) (born 1955) is a Lebanese writer and author.^[1]

Life and career

Born in Beirut, Sobh studied English & Arabic Literature at the Lebanese University.^[2] Upon graduation in 1978, she pursued a career in teaching. She also began publishing articles and short stories, at first in An-Nida newspaper and then in An-Nahar. After a spell as cultural editor, she became editor-in-chief of Al-Hasnaa, a popular Arabic women's magazine, in 1986. In the early 1990s, she became editor-in-chief of women's magazine Snob Al-Hasnaa’ and remains to be its editor-in-chief to date.^[3]

In 2009, Sobh served on the judging panel of the Beirut39 competition.^[4]

Works

Short Stories

• Slumber of Days (1986)

Novels

• Maryam: Keeper of Stories (Dar Al Adab 2002)
• Dunya (Dar Al Adab 2006)
• It's Called Love also known as It's Called Passion (Dar Al Adab 2009)

Translated Works

Maryam: Keeper of Stories was translated into English by Seagull Books,^[5] into French by Gallimard^[6] and into German by Suhrkamp.^[7]

Dunya was translated into Italian by Mondadori.^[8]

It's Called Love was translated into Italian by Mondadori^[9] and into Romanian by Polirom.^[10]

Reception

Sobh's work has been critically acclaimed.^[11][12] For her literary accomplishments and innovative writing, Sobh received the Sultan Qaboos prize in Oman in 2007.^[13] Her novels Dunya and It's Called Love were long-listed for the Arabic Booker Prize in 2008^[14] and 2010,^[15] respectively. In 2016, an eponymous award dubbed the "Alawiya Sobh Literary critique Award" was launched at Abdelmalek Essaâdi University in Tétouan for participants whose critiques center around Sobh's work.^[16]

References