Amal Aden (born 1983) is the pseudonym of a Somali– Norwegian writer. She is an author, lecturer and

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

activist. Aden is substitute member of the

Norwegian Press Complaints Commission The Norwegian Press Complaints Commission () is a complaint commission of Norwegian Press Association. The members of the commission from are (from July 2012 to July 2014):

and has been a contributor to the newspaper ''

Dag og Tid ''Dag og Tid'' () is a national weekly newspaper in Norway that uses the Nynorsk standard of the Norwegian language. ''Dag og Tid'' was founded in 1962. Contrary to most other Norwegian newspapers, its circulation has recently increased signific ...

'' since January 2013.

Early and personal life

Aden was born in

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

, and became an orphan at the age of four. She was illiterate, and immigrated to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

through

family reunification Family reunification is a recognized reason for immigration in many countries because of the presence of one or more family members in a certain country, therefore, enables the rest of the divided family or only specific members of the family to ...

as a thirteen-year-old in 1996, after living as a

street child Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids, or urchins; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policymakers ...

for seven years. She struggled at first with the meeting of another culture,

child protection Child protection (also called child welfare) is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, abandonment, and neglect. It involves identifying signs of potential harm. This includes responding to allegations or suspicions ...

and other public services which she claims were unable to help her. She ended up in the drug environment in the

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

city district of Grønland, and lived on the streets of the same city periodically. Today however, she is self-employed and works as an interpreter for the police, schools and other instances, as well as being an advisor and lecturer for municipalities and other instances. She is the mother of two twins and since 2002 she has lived in

Hønefoss __NOTOC__ Hønefoss is a town and the administrative center of the municipality of Ringerike in Buskerud county, Norway. Hønefoss is an industrial center of inner Østlandet, containing several factories and other industry. As of 1 January 2022 ...

Career

Amal Aden published her first book in 2008 and has published several books since. She has received several awards, first of them Zola-prisen (a Norwegian prize named after the French writer and intellectual

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...

) in 2010 for her work with immigration and integration issues.

Threats

In 2013, following her participation in the

Pride Parade, Amal Aden says she received 146 threatening messages. Aden is an outspoken Muslim-lesbian activist.

Honours and recognitions

*Zola Prize, 2010 *The Amnesty Prize of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

Norway, 2012 *

Erik Bye Erik Erikssønn Bye (March 1, 1926 – October 13, 2004) was a versatile Norwegian-American journalist, artist, author, film actor, folk singer and radio and television personality. He was one of the 20th century's most well-known and popular r ...

's Memorial Prize, 2014 * Gina Krog Prize of the

Norwegian Association for Women's Rights The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights (; NKF) is Norway's oldest and preeminent women's rights, women's and girls' rights organization that works "to promote gender equality and all women's and girls' human rights through political reform, ...

, 2016Amal Aden tildelt Gina Krog-prisen

Bibliography

Aden is the author of several books: * ''Se oss: bekymringsmelding fra en ung norsksomalisk kvinne.'' Aschehoug (2008) * ''ABC i integrering: 111 gode råd om hvordan alle kan bli fullverdige borgere i det norske samfunnet.'' Aschehoug (2009) * ''Min drøm om frihet: En selvbiografisk fortelling.'' Aschehoug (2009) * ''Det skal merkes at de gråter: Om likestilling blant somaliere i Norge'' (2011) * ''Om håpet glipper, er alt tapt'' (2012) * ''Jacayl er kjærlighet på somali'' (2015)

References

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aden, Amal 1983 births Living people Norwegian non-fiction writers Norwegian women non-fiction writers Somalian emigrants to Norway 21st-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers Norwegian Muslims Norwegian lesbian writers Somalian LGBTQ people Lesbian Muslims Somalian Muslims Somalian non-fiction writers 21st-century Somalian women writers People from Ringerike (municipality) 21st-century Norwegian LGBTQ people 21st-century Norwegian writers Somalian LGBTQ rights activists