Mohammed Hasan Alwan (; born 27 August 1979) is a Saudi Arabian novelist and the Chief Executive Officer of the Literature, Publishing, and Translation Commission affiliated with the Ministry of Culture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, appointed in 2020. He was born in

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

and studied

Computer Information Systems An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, store, and distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems comprise four components: task, people, structu ...

King Saud University King Saud University (KSU, ) is a public university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1957 by King Saud bin Abdulalziz to address the country's skilled worker shortage, it is the first university in Saudi Arabia. It was known as Riyadh U ...

, obtaining a bachelor's degree in 2002. He also obtained an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from the

University of Portland The University of Portland (UP) is a private Catholic university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1901 and is affiliated with the Congregation of Holy Cross, which also founded UP's sister school, the University of Notre Da ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

in 2008 and Ph.D from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

in 2016. Alwan is the third Saudi novelist to win the

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 ...

(often referred to as the Arabic Booker) in 2017, following novelists

Abdo Khal Abdo Khal (born 3, August 1962, Al-Mijannah, Jizan, Saudi Arabia) is an Arab writer and winner of the 2010 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Biography He left his home village at a young age and currently lives in Jeddah. Before becomin ...

in 2010 and Raja'a Alem in 2011. Alwan has published five novels to date: ''Saqf Elkefaya'' (2002), ''Sophia'' (2004), ''Touq Altahara'' (2007), "Al-Qundus" (2011), and "Mouton Sageer" (2016). His work has appeared in translation in ''

Banipal ''Banipal'' is an independent literary magazine dedicated to the promotion of contemporary Arab literature through translations in English. It was founded in London in 1998 by Margaret Obank and Samuel Shimon. The magazine is published three ti ...

'' magazine ("Blonde Grass" and "Statistics", translated by Ali Azeriah); in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' ("Oil Field", translated by Peter Clark); and in ''

Words Without Borders ''Words Without Borders'' (''WWB'') is an international magazine open to international exchange through translation, publication, and promotion of the world's best writing and authors who are not easily accessible to English-speaking readers. The ...

'' ("Mukhtar", translated by William M. Hutchins). His work was published in the Beirut39 anthology (''Beirut39: New Writing from the Arab World'', edited by

Samuel Shimon Samuel Shimon (born 1956 in Al-Habbaniyah, Iraq) is an Iraqi writer and journalist of Assyrian descent. He left Iraq in 1979 with dreams of becoming a director in Hollywood, and has since then lived in Damascus, Amman, Beirut, Nicosia, Aden, Cairo ...

) and in the IPAF Nadwa anthology (''Emerging Arab Voices'', edited by Peter Clark).

Awards and honors

In 2009-10, Alwan was chosen as one of the 39 best Arab authors under the age of 40 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 ...

project. He was also a participant in the first

IPAF Nadwa The International Prize for Arabic Fiction Nadwa is an annual writers' workshop for young writers from the Arab world. Held under the aegis of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (itself funded by the Emirates Foundation in Abu Dhabi), the ...

in 2009. In 2013, his novel, ''Al-Qundus'', was shortlisted in the

(2013). In 2015, Alwan won the Arab World Institute's Prix de la Littérature Arabe for ''Al-Qundus'', translated to French by Stéphanie Dujols as ''Le castor''. It was considered the best novel to be translated into French in 2015. In 2017, he won the

for ''A Small Death'', a novel about

Ibn Arabi Ibn Arabi (July 1165–November 1240) was an Andalusian Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest com ...

References

1979 births People from Riyadh Saudi Arabian novelists Saudi Arabian short story writers University of Portland alumni Living people King Saud University alumni International Prize for Arabic Fiction winners {{SaudiArabia-writer-stub

Awards and honors

See also

References