{"id":1474,"date":"2010-12-04T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-04T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=1474"},"modified":"2010-12-04T19:33:13","modified_gmt":"2010-12-04T15:33:13","slug":"controversial-nubian-author-idris-ali-dies-aged-70","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-society\/controversial-nubian-author-idris-ali-dies-aged-70\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversial Nubian author, Idris Ali, dies aged 70"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
Idris Ali, author of a number of books including the banned novella The Leader Is Getting His Hair Cut<\/em>, died this past week at 70.<\/div>\n

Ali reportedly died of a massive heart attack.<\/p>\n

Ali\u2019s work\u2014novels like\u00a0Poor<\/em>,\u00a0The Excluded<\/em>, and Dongola<\/em>\u2014largely drew on his childhood experiences among upper Egypt\u2019s Nubian population. His work was not stylistically tight, but expressed a sometimes beautiful fury about the lives of the marginalized.<\/p>\n

His most recent book,\u00a0The Leader Is Getting His Hair Cut<\/em>, took its inspiration from the years its author spent in Libya, 1976 to 1980.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI),<\/a> it was early this year when \u201cEgyptian state security stormed the publishing house Waad, arrested the director, Jumaili Ahmed Shehata, confiscated all the copies of the novel [The Leader is Getting His Hair Cut<\/em>] and escorted him [Shehata] to Shubra prosecution office.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was ANHRI\u2019s opinion that the banning of Ali\u2019s book and arrest of his publisher were a \u201ccourtesy\u201d to Moammar Ghaddafi prior to a state visit to Libya by Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. The book had been published four months previous to its seizure and banning.<\/p>\n

Ali had a great number of ups and downs in his life, which he wrote about in his memoir,\u00a0Below the Poverty Line<\/em>. Born in 1940 in Aswan, Ali attended the religious institute of Al Azhar and was self-taught in literature. He published his first story in 1969. Unable to make a living as an author, he worked in a construction company to supplement his income.<\/p>\n

Although he won the Best Egyptian Novel prize in 1999 for\u00a0The Explosion of the Skull, <\/em>which led to better financial conditions,\u00a0Al Ahram Online<\/a> and\u00a0Al Akhbar<\/a> <\/em>note that the author made several suicide attempts, particularly after the loss of his son.<\/p>\n

More about Idris Ali:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A\u00a0review of the English translation of\u00a0Poor<\/em><\/a>, from The Complete Review.<\/p>\n

Idris Ali\u2019s GoodReads pages in\u00a0English<\/a> and in\u00a0Arabic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Obituaries from\u00a0Dar al Hayat<\/a><\/em> and\u00a0Al Akhbar<\/em><\/a>. (Arabic)<\/p>\n

Al Ahram has more about Nubian art and literature in \u201cRemembering Nubia<\/a>,\u201d wherein Osama Kamal explores Nubia through the latest show by artist Farid Fadel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M. LYNX-QUALEY: Self taught novelist Idris Ali experienced many highs and lows but always wrote with conviction. He died this week aged 70. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":1475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,5],"tags":[2693,2916,2910,1831,18300,2323,18332,18291,1808,2919],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}