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Tydskrif vir Letterkunde

On-line version ISSN 2309-9070
Print version ISSN 0041-476X

Tydskr. letterkd. vol.57 n.1 Pretoria  2020

http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2309-9070/tvl.v.57i1.8081 

REVIEWS

 

Chronology: Nuruddin Farah

 

 

F. Fiona Moolla

Associate professor in the English Department, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa. She is the author of Reading Nuruddin Farah: The Individual, the Novel & the Idea of Home (James Currey, 2014). Email: fmoolla@uwc.ac.za; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7809-2222

 

 

1945 November 24. Nuruddin Farah born in Baidoa (Italian-occupied area of Somalia).

1947 Family moves to Kallafo in the Ogaden (British-occupied; handed over soon afterwards to Ethiopian control). Attends Qur'anic school.

1960 Independence gained from Britain and Italy-now Republic of Somalia.

1963 Due to war, family moves from the Ogaden to Mogadishu; Farah completes secondary school education.

1965 First short story, "Why Dead so Soon?" completed and published in Somali News.

1966 Attends Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. Studies Literature and Philosophy, funded by an Indian government scholarship.

1969 Marries Chitra Muliyil (Indian student). Receives BA degree. Returns to Somalia, where Muhammed Siyad Barre is in power after military coup. Writes the play A Dagger in Vacuum-denied licence to produce it.

1970 Publishes first novel, From a Crooked Rib. Son Koschin is born. Teaches at National University in Somalia and secondary schools.

1972 First marriage ends. Somali is codified as written language.

1973 Serialization of Somali-language novel Tallow Waa Talee Ma in Somali News stopped by government censors.

1974 Leaves Somalia for next twenty-two years. Wins UNESCO Fellowship and enrols in University of London, attached to Royal Court Theatre.

1975 Postgraduate study continued at University of Essex. Play The Offering, written in lieu of thesis, produced at Essex.

1976 Novel A Naked Needle published. Warned by brother not to return to Somalia after enraging Barre regime by publishing A Naked Needle-moves to Italy for next three years.

1976-9 Translator and English language teacher in Rome and Milan.

1978 A Spread of Butter broadcast by BBC African service.

1979 Novel Sweet and Sour Milk published. Moves to Los Angeles; writes film scripts.

1980 Sweet and Sour Milk wins English-speaking Union Literary Award.

1981 Novel Sardines published. Teaches at Bayreuth University, West Germany for six months as Guest Professor. Draft of Close Sesame completed. Moves to Jos in Nigeria.

1982 Yussuf and His Brothers written and produced at Jos, where he is Visiting Reader at the university.

1983 Novel Close Sesame published; work begun on novel Maps.

1984 German broadcasting commissions his play Tartar Delight. Moves to Gambia; completes Maps.

1986 Maps published. Moves to Khartoum, Sudan, where he teaches at the University. First draft of Gifts written there.

1989 Moves to Kampala, Uganda.

1990 First draft of Secrets completed in Berlin; receives German Academic Exchange Service fellowship there. Novel Gifts is first published in Swedish in Stockholm. Mother dies in Mogadishu. Meets sociology professor, Amina Mama.

1991 Barre flees Somalia. Second draft of Secrets completed. Resigns Makerere position and moves to Ethiopia after criticism by Ugandan President. Gives lectures on Somali refugees' plight at Oxford university.

Awarded Tucholsky prize in Stockholm for work as a literary exile. Brief reunion with his father.

1992 Publishes Gifts in English in Zimbabwe. Moves to Kaduna, Nigeria. Marries Amina Mama.

1993 Father dies in Mombasa, Kenya, two days before departure for USA. Daughter, Abyan, born. Gifts wins Best Novel award in Zimbabwe.

1994 Wins Premio Cavour prize for Italian edition of Close Sesame. Serves on Neustadt Prize jury, strongly supporting Toni Morrison for the award.

1995 Son, Kaahiye, born.

1996 After twenty-two years' exile, returns to Somalia.

1998 February: selected as fifteenth Neustadt laureate. May: publishes Secrets. May: Gifts (French edition) wins St. Malo Literary Festival award; named Book of the Month for all French libraries. October: wins Neustadt Prize at Oklahoma University. World Literature Today dedicates Autumn issue to Farah and his work.

1999 Moves to Cape Town, South Africa.

2000 Publishes Yesterday, Tomorrow: Voices from the Somali Diaspora.

2001 Wins the Italian Premio Mondello prize for best foreign author.

2003 Second prize winner of the Lettre Ulysses Award for the Art of Reportage.

2004 Publishes Links.

2005 Wins the Italian Premio Napoli award for the Italian translation of Links.

2010 Publishes Knots. Winton Chair in the Liberal Arts University of Minnesota. (Till 2012.)

2011 Publishes Crossbones.

2013 Sister working for UNICEF in Kabul, Afghanistan, killed in a bomb blast.

2014 Publishes Hiding in Plain Sight. Wins South African Lifetime Achievement Award.

2017 Awarded Honorary Doctorate by alma mater, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.

2018 Publishes North of Dawn.

2019 Awarded the third Lee Hochul Literary Prize for Peace at a ceremony in Seoul, South Korea.

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