Ibrahim Kuni


Ibrāhīm Kūnī is a Libyan writer and one of the most prolific Arabic novelists.

Early years

Born in 1948 in the Fezzan Region, Ghadamis City, Ibrahim Kuni was brought up on the tradition of the Tuareg, popularly known as "the veiled men" or "the blue men." Mythological elements, spiritual quest and existential questions mingle in the writings of Kuni who has been hailed as magical realist, Sufi fabulist and poetic novelist.
He spent his childhood in the desert and learned to read and write Arabic when he was twelve. Kuni studied comparative literature at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow and then worked as a journalist in Moscow and Warsaw.

Works

By 2007, Kuni had published more than 80 books and received numerous awards. All written in Arabic, his books have been translated into 35 languages. His novel Gold Dust appeared in English in 2008. In 2015, Kuni was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize, which as of 2016 is his most prestigious international accolade.