“Moving to Britain in my mid-twenties made me a writer. I write about immigrants especially Muslim women and how they navigate their lives within the dynamics of their faith.”
Novelist and short story writer
Leila Aboulela in conversation with Bashabi Fraser
Talking about her writing life in Aberdeen
Biography
Leila Aboulela was the first-ever winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. Her sixth novel, River Spirit, was published in March 2023. Leila’s previous novels are Bird Summons, The Kindness of Enemies, The Translator, Minaret and Lyrics Alley, Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards. Her short story collection Elsewhere, Home, won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year.
Leila’s work has been translated into fifteen languages and she was nominated three times for the Orange Prize (now the Women’s Prize for Fiction). She grew up in Khartoum and moved in her mid-twenties to Aberdeen, where she now lives. Leila is Honorary Professor of the WORD centre at the University of Aberdeen and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
