Abdullah Thabit (, born 1973) is a

Saudi Arabian Saudis ( ar, سعوديون, Suʿūdiyyūn) are people identified with the country of Saudi Arabia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. The Saudis are composed mainly of Arabs and primarily speak a regional dialect ...

poet, novelist and journalist. He was born in the city of

Abha Abha ( ar, أَبْهَا, ') is the capital of 'Asir Region in Saudi Arabia, with a population of 1,093,705 as of 2021. It is situated above sea level in the fertile Asir Mountains of south-western Saudi Arabia, near Asir National Park. Abha' ...

in the southern province of

Asir The ʿAsir Region ( ar, عَسِيرٌ, ʿAsīr, lit=difficult) is a region of Saudi Arabia located in the southwest of the country that is named after the ʿAsīr tribe. It has an area of and an estimated population of 2,211,875 (2017). It is ...

. He studied

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...

at King Khaled University, and works as a journalist at the Saudi daily '' Al-Watan''. Thabit has published several volumes of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

. He has also written a bestselling novel titled ''Terrorist Number 20'' (2006). The book recalls his teenage years as a religious extremist and was inspired in part by

Ahmad Alnami Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Nami ( Arabic: أحمد بن عبد الله النعمي, ; also transliterated as Alnami; August 17, 1977 – September 11, 2001) was one of four terrorist hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September ...

, one of the 9/11 hijackers and a fellow resident of Abha who was vaguely familiar to Thabit. In April 2006, three months after the release of the book, Thabit was forced to move from Abha to Jeddah with his family after receiving death threats. In 2009-10, Thabit was recognised by the

Beirut39 Beirut39 is a collaborative project between the Hay Festival, Beirut UNESCO's World Book Capital 2009 celebrations, ''Banipal'' magazine and the British Council among others in order to identify 39 of the most promising Arab writers under the age o ...

project as one of the best writers in the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

under the age of 40. His work has appeared in English translation in the Beirut39 anthology, edited by Samuel Shimon. In 2012, Thabit participated in the International Writing Program's Fall Residency at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA.

References

1973 births 20th-century Saudi Arabian poets Saudi Arabian novelists Saudi Arabian journalists Living people King Khalid University alumni International Writing Program alumni Memoirists 21st-century Saudi Arabian poets {{Portal, Saudi Arabia