Wednesday 9 July 2008 morning ceremony
 Dr Ahdaf Soueif (DLitt)
Ahdaf Soueif is a bestselling
author and a
political and cultural
commentator. The London
Review of Books called her
‘a political analyst and
commentator of the best
kind’ and her clear-eyed
reporting and analysis is
syndicated throughout the
world. A collection of her
essays Mezzaterra:
Fragments from the
Common Ground, was
published in 2004. The
book, though, is more than a collection of essays; it is a
document of our changing times and their effect on the
priorities and the world view of a novelist.
She wrote the bestseller The Map of Love, which was
shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1999 and translated into
18 languages.
In 1990 Soueif’s novel In the Eye of the Sun, was welcomed
by Arab authors and critics as ‘Arabic Literature written in
English’. In 1996 her collection of short stories, Zinat al-
Hayah, won the ‘Best Short Story Collection Award’ of the
Cairo International Book Fair. Her translation, from Arabic
into English, of Mourid Barghouti’s I Saw Ramallah also came
out in 2004.
Ms Soueif occupies a unique position among contemporary
writers: Egyptian and British, writing in both English and
Arabic, concerned with both the art of fiction and the state of
the world.
In 2007 Ms Soueif established Engaged Events, a UK-based
charity. Its first project was the Palestine Festival of Literature,
which took place in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah from
7 to 12 May 2008.
Ahdaf Soueif has two sons, Omar Robert and Ismail Richard.
She lives in London and Cairo.
Listen to Ahdaf Soueif's speech here.
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