Writing Away From Home: In-Conversation with Rania Mamoun & Leila Aboulela

This program presents a conversation between two female Sudanese writers, Caine Prize winner Leila Aboulela and City of Asylum writer-in-residence Rania Mamoun. These two remarkable women will discuss the breadth of their work through multiple genres, and discuss their experiences living away from Sudan and how being away from home has influenced their work.

You can purchase your own copy of Rania’s work, including Something Evergreen Called Life, as well as Leila’s River Spirit at City of Asylum Bookstore.

About the Authors:

Leila Aboulela is the first-ever winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. Her sixth novel, River Spirit, was published in March 2023 and described by the New York Times as “Dazzling… a novel of war, love, faith, womanhood and—crucially—the tussle over truth and public narratives.” Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah described it as “A novel of extraordinary sympathy and insight— a wonderful achievement.” Leila’s previous novels are Bird Summons, The Kindness of Enemies, The Translator, Minaret and Lyrics Alley, Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards. Her short story collection, Elsewhere, Home, won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year. Leila’s work has been translated into fifteen languages and she was nominated three times for the Orange Prize (now the Women’s Prize for Fiction). She grew up in Khartoum, Sudan and now lives in Aberdeen, Scotland. 

Rania Mamoun is a Sudanese activist and bestselling writer of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. She completed Something Evergreen Called Life, a poetry manuscript written during COVID-19 quarantine, translated into English by Yasmine Seale and published by Action Books in March 2023. Rania has published two novels to great international acclaim, Green Flash and Son of the Sun, and her short story collection, Thirteen Months of Sunrise, was shortlisted for the 2020 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. Rania continues to organize for democracy in Sudan. Her writing has appeared in English, Korean, French, and Spanish translation. She is a writer-in-residence at City of Asylum since 2019. 

About the Moderator:

Dr. Christel N. Temple is Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pittsburgh and an affiliate of the Graduate Program for Cultural Studies and the Center for African Studies. Her areas of interest are comparative literature of Africa and the Diaspora, cultural memory, Pan-Africanism, and the Afroeuropean experience.  She is the author of several books, including Literary Spaces: Introduction to Comparative Black Literature, Transcendence and the Africana Literary Enterprise, and Literary Pan-Africanism: History, Contexts, and Criticism.  At the University of Pittsburgh, she teaches courses such as Africana World Literature, Man/Woman Literature, Introduction to African American Poetry, and Black Consciousness.

About Your Visit: 

Remember you can dine at the in-house restaurant 40 North before, during, or after the show. Please visit Open Table or call 412-435-1111 to make a reservation.