Leila Aboulela

Leila Aboulela FRSL
Aboulela in 2019
Native name	ليلى ابوالعلا
Born	1964 (age 59–60) Cairo, Egypt
Occupation	Writer
Nationality	Sudanese
Alma mater	University of Khartoum and London School of Economics
Subjects	Economics and Statistics
Years active	1999–present
Notable awards	Caine Prize for African Writing; Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards; Saltire Fiction Book of the Year
Children	3
Website
www.leila-aboulela.com

Leila Fuad Aboulela FRSL (Arabic:ليلى فؤاد ابوالعلا; born 1964) is a fiction writer, essayist, and playwright of Sudanese origin based in Aberdeen, Scotland.^[1] She grew up in Khartoum, Sudan, and moved to Scotland in 1990 where she began her literary career. Until 2023, Aboulela has published six novels and several short stories, which have been translated into fifteen languages. Her most popular novels, Minaret (2005) and The Translator (1999) both feature the stories of Muslim women in the UK and were longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award and Orange Prize.^[2] Aboulela's works have been included in publications such as Harper's Magazine, Granta, The Washington Post and The Guardian. BBC Radio has adapted her work extensively and broadcast a number of her plays, including The Insider, The Mystic Life and the historical drama The Lion of Chechnya.^[3] The five-part radio serialization of her 1999 novel The Translator was short-listed for the Race In the Media Award (RIMA).^[3]

Aboulela's work is critically acclaimed for its depiction of Muslim migrants in the West the and the challenges they face. Her work is heavily influenced by her own experiences as an immigrant to the United Kingdom and the hardships she experienced during the transition. Her work centers around political issues and themes such as identity, multi-cultural relationships, the East-West divide, migration, and Islamic spirituality. Her prose has been celebrated by J. M. Coetzee, Ben Okri and Ali Smith. Her 2023 novel River Spirit was praised by Abdulrazak Gurnah for its "extraordinary sympathy and insight".^[4]