Mohammed Hasan Alwan was born in 1979 in Riyadh. In 2002 he received a bachelor\u2019s degree in computer science from King Saud University. In 2008 he earned an MBA at the University of Portland, in Oregon, in 2016 a PhD in international marketing at Carleton University in Ottawa. At age 14 he began writing poetry; he later worked as a columnist for the Saudi Arabian newspapers \u00bbAl Sharq\u00ab and \u00bbAlwatan\u00ab.<\/p>\n
Alwan has since published five novels in Arabic. His debut \u00bbSaqf Elkefaya\u00ab (2002) created quite a stir in his native country and became a bestseller. It tells the tragic love story of a couple that must keep their relationship a secret, while pillorying the gender segregation that is still publicly sanctioned in Saudi society. His second novel<\/p>\n
\u00bbSofia\u00ab (2004), focuses on two lovers from disparate religious affiliations, while \u00bbTouq Altahara\u00ab (2007; tr. The collar of purity) describes the psychological trauma suffered by a sexually molested child. \u00bbAl-Qundus\u00ab (2013; tr. The beaver) was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction; two years later the French translation, \u00bbLe Castor\u00ab, won the Prix de la Litt\u00e9rature Arabe. The novel\u2019s hero, Ghalib al-Wajzi, leaves Riyadh for Portland at the age of 40 and, from afar and with the help of a beaver accompanying him on his travels to Willamette River, tries to comprehend the history of his dysfunctional family. His parents separated; nothing ties the brothers to one another apart from their shared home. The beaver \u2013 rather egotistical in his social behavior and contentedly entrenched behind borders and walls in order to feel secure \u2013 exhibits certain commonalities with Ghalib\u2019s family. His fifth novel \u00bbMawt Saghir\u00ab (2016; tr. A little death) won Alwan the 2017 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. The protagonist is Ibn Arabi, one of the most famous Sufi masters 800 years ago. Alwan had already addressed the theme of travel in his 2014 work of non-fiction \u00bbAl Raheel\u00ab (tr. Migration); Ibn Arabi\u2019s ideas and philosophy interested him less than the fact that he was on the road for 50 years of his life. The novel follows the scholar from his birth in Andalusia in 1165 to his death in Damascus in 1240 and includes his deliberations on violence, which he witnessed in Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Turkey.<\/p>\n
Alwan published shorter works in English translation in \u00bbBanipal Magazine\u00ab, \u00bbThe Guardian\u00ab and in \u00bbWords Without Borders\u00ab; in 2009\u201310 the Beirut39 project, in whose anthology his work also appeared, voted him one of the 39 best Arab authors under the age of 40. Mohammed Hasan Alwan lives in Toronto.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10501,"template":"","jct-role":[1080],"jct-origin":[502],"jct-ilb-years":[611],"class_list":["post-40778","authors","type-authors","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","jct-role-author","jct-origin-saudi-arabia","jct-ilb-years-2017-en"],"yoast_head":"\n