WalidNabhan

1.

Biography

Walid Nabhan was born in Amman to a family of refugees from a small village on the outskirts of Hebron in Palestine. In 1990, Nabhan arrived in Malta to study science and has since made the tiny Mediterranean island his home. However, for Nabhan, the concept of home and, by extension, that of the homeland, is very complex and one which comes to the fore in much of his work.

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In 2017 he was awarded the European Union Prize for Literature for L-Eżodu taċ-Ċikonji (Exodus of the Storks, Klabb Kotba Maltin, 2013), a novel which had previously won the Maltese National Book Prize in 2014. In this novel, Nabhan explores issues of identity, exile and displacement brought about by an existentialism that is rooted in the religious and political turmoil of his homeland. The situation of Nabil, the main character, echoes Nabhan’s own as he was born in Jordan but eventually found his way to Malta. However, despite the geographic distance, Nabil is still very much bound in spirit to his former life – in fact, most of the novel is set in Jordan, where Nabil’s family resides.

The religious-political conflict between (and also within) different cultures is internalised by Nabhan’s characters and manifested as an existential impasse that leaves them neither here nor there. They inhabit a state of repeated and distressed liminality, torn (in-)between diametrically opposed modes of existence that prevent them from having a secure sense of self. The narrator in the title story of his short story collection, Bejn Bejnejn (Klabb Kotba Maltin, 2019) dwells in such a space. His constant dismissal of everything and everyone creates a vortex of negativity which displaces and engulfs him.

Whether this negativity is self-imposed or not is another motif close to Nabhan’s heart. It’s a catch-22, as personal strife becomes identified with religious and political turmoil, one feeding off of the other. Nabhan’s characters are alien to both their native and adopted lands, restless souls trapped in a tormented and static mode of being. Their agency is restricted because their freedom of movement comes at the expense of their sense of identity, leaving them exposed to outside forces which constantly threaten to obliterate them, if not physically, then spiritually or psychologically.

A striking image in L-Eżodu taċ-Ċikonji illustrates this. Nabil’s mother stops talking when he and his twin sister Naseh turn one. She has apparently lost her will to live. Her condition is somehow connected to the political upheaval occurring at the time. A year later, the mother dies. By that time, Nabil was suckling at a dry breast whereas his sister, we are led to believe, was slowly injecting their mother with poison. Nabhan implies that love, even in its purest form, can become corrupt and toxic. The same goes for the love for one’s homeland and one’s roots: these can easily morph into shackles which hinder one’s development and wellbeing.

This in-betweenness is a very important motif in Nabhan’s writings, especially in relation to one’s homeland. It’s a love-hate relationship that has to be constantly negotiated. One simultaneously belongs and doesn’t.

Biography written by Noel Tanti

2.

Bibliography

المنزل رقم 36

House No. 36
Prose
Arabic
Author
Translator
Walid Nabhan
Publisher
Dar Noon, Egypt

درت حول الأرض

I travelled the world
Prose
Arabic
Author
Translator
Walid Nabhan
Publisher
Masr El Arabia, Egypt

الثعابين مازالت سامة

The Vipers’ Pit
Prose
Arabic
Author
Translator
Walid Nabhan
Publisher
Dar Mahrousa, Egypt

Bejn Bejnejn

Between the Inbetween
Prose
Maltese
Author
Publisher
Klabb Kotba Maltin, Malta

Of Flesh and Blood: The Figurative Art of Raymond Agius, the Poetry of Walid Nabhan

Poetry
English
Author
Artist
Raymond Agius
Publisher
Kite, Malta

L-Iżvijati

The Derailed
Prose
Maltese
Author
Publisher
Klabb Kotba Maltin, Malta

مسافات

Distances
Poetry
Arabic
Author
Translator
Walid Nabhan
Publisher
Sefsafa Publishing, Egypt

Fi Triqti Lejha

On my way to her
Poetry
Maltese
Author
Publisher
Klabb Kotba Maltin, Malta

L-Eżodu taċ-Ċikonji

Exodus of the Storks
Prose
Maltese
Author
Awards
Winner of the Malta National Book Prize & the European Prize for Literature
Publisher
Klabb Kotba Maltin, Malta
Related titles

Exodus of the Storks

Prose
English
Author
Translator
Albert Gatt
Publisher
Peter Owen Publishers, UK

Изселване на щъркели

Prose
Bulgarian
Author
Translator
Mikhail Vapirev
Publisher
Paradox, Bulgaria

Egzodus roda

Prose
Croatian
Author
Translator
Slobodanka Glišić
Publisher
Odiseja, Croatia

هجرة اللقالق

Prose
Arabic
Author
Publisher
Arab Scientific Publishers, Lebanon

Silta / Excerpt

in "After September"
Prose
Slovenian
Author
Translator
Breda BiščakAlbert Gatt
Editor
Immanuel MifsudPeter Semolič
Publisher
Antologie Vilenice, Slovenia

Leħen tal-Fuħħar u Stejjer Oħra

A voice of clay
Prose
Maltese
Author
Publisher
Klabb Kotba Maltin, Malta

Everything is not

in Transcript 38
Prose
English
Author
Translator
Albert Gatt
Publisher
Transcript, Wales

Lura d-Dar u Ġrajjiet Oħra li ma Ġrawx

Back home and other short stories which never happened
Prose
Maltese
Author
Publisher
Klabb Kotba Maltin, Malta

Tibża' xejn jekk tibda x-xita

Don't be afraid of the rain
Poetry
Maltese
Author
Publisher
Edizzjoni Skarta, Malta
Supported by

Arts Council Malta

Creative Industries Platform

Project co-ordinator: Clare Azzopardi

With the help of: Kirsty Azzopardi, Leanne Ellul and Albert Gatt

Proofreader: Dwayne Ellul

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