Amir Tag Elsir (, born 1960), also written Amir Taj al-Sir, is a

Sudanese The demographics of Sudan include the Sudanese people () and their characteristics, Sudan, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population. In Sudan' ...

medical doctor and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

, writing in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. He has published more than 20 works of poetry, biography and novels, some of these translated into English or other languages. His novels deal with contemporary social issues, like poverty, the lives of refugees or diseases, such as

Ebola Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after in ...

Life and literary career

Tag Elsir was born in northern

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

in 1960 and graduated from

Tanta University Tanta University (Arabic: جامعة طنطا) is an Egyptian university in the city of Tanta, Al Gharbiyah governorate, Egypt. The university is under the direct scientific supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education. It was founded fi ...

in Egypt. He lives and works as a medical doctor in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. His first novel ''Karmakul'' came out in 1988. In 2015, he won the

Katara Prize for Arabic Novel The Katara Prize for Arabic Novel is an Arabic literary prize based in Qatar. It was established in 2014 by the Doha-based Katara Cultural Village. The total prize pool is $650,000 and the main prize $200,000, making it one of the richest liter ...

for his story of love and crime, entitled ''366.'' In addition, several of his other novels were shortlisted for the prestigious

International Prize for Arabic Fiction The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) (), also known as "the Arabic Booker", is regarded as the most prestigious and important literary prize in the Arab world. Its aim is to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic creative writing ...

. Commenting on the novel ''Telepathy'', literary critic M.A. Orthofer said, Tag Elsir creates the fiction of "a successful Sudanese writer, who finds that his most recent novel, called ''Hunger's Hopes'', turns out to be closer to real life than he had any reason to believe." According to a review in Sudanese online magazine Andariya, his novels treat contemporary social issues "like the exploitation of the refugees and their harsh living conditions, and tackles the issue of poverty plaguing the citizens of the country."

Selected works in English translation

* ''French Perfume'' (2009) *''The Grub Hunter'' (2010). Pearson Education. *''The Korak council (2012)'' *''The Yelling Dowry'' (2013). Moment Digibooks Limited *''Telepathy'' (2015). Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing. * '' Ebola '76'' (2015). London: Darf Publishers. *''366'' (2016)

References

External links

Amir Tag Elsir
on

goodreads Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and readi ...

A chapter from Amir Tag Elsir’s ''Ebola ‘76'' in English translation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taj al Sir, Amir 1960 births Living people Sudanese novelists 20th-century Sudanese writers 21st-century Sudanese writers Sudanese male writers

Life and literary career

Selected works in English translation

See also

References

External links