Najat Abdul Samad

Najat Abdul Samad
Born1967
As-Suwayda, Syria
NationalitySyrian
Occupation(s)Obstetrician, writer, translator
Awardsher novel "La Maa Yarweena" won the Katara Prize for Arabic Novel in the category of published Arab novels, 2018

Najat Abdel Samad (Arabic: نجاة عبد الصمد, born 1967) is a Syrian Druze fiction writer and obstetrician. She has published several novels, including La Ma Yarweeha (No Water Takes It), which was awarded the Katara Prize for the Arabic Novel and published in a German translation.

Further, she has translated two Russian books into Arabic including the story "Memoirs of a Young Doctor" by the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov.

Education and career

Samad was born in As-Suwayda, Syria, in 1967 as part of the Druze community. She graduated from Damascus University with a degree in Arabic Language and Literature.[1]

Her first novel Bilad al-Manafi (Nations of Exile) was published by Dar al-Rayyis in 2010.

In 2018, Abdel Samad's novel La Maa Yarweeha (No Water to quench their Thirst) won the Katara Prize for Arabic Novels in the category of published Arab novels.[2][3][4] In 2023 it was published in German as Kein Wassser stillt ihren Durst.[5] She currently lives in Germany.

Part of a joint work with other translators, Osama Abu Al-Hassan and Thaer Zain Al-Din, Abdel Samad also translated the story The Memoirs of a Young Doctor by the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov from the Russian original.

Selected works

  • Muthakarat Tabib Shab (Memories of a People's Doctor), 2005
  • Bilad Al Manafi, 2010
  • Ghornikat Suria (Syrian Guernicas), 2013
  • Fi Hananya Al Harb (In the Kindness of War), 2015
  • La Ma Yarweeha (No Water Takes It), 2016
  • Manazel al-Awtan (Home of Nations), Bayt al-Muwaten al-Souri, Beirut 2018

Awards

References

  1. ^ "'Imagine our helpless feeling' -- a Syrian writer's plea to the world". PBS NewsHour. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  2. ^ سلام, أميرة (28 August 2017). "مجلّة صُوَر تحاور الطبيبة والروائيّة نجاة عبدالصمد". Suwar Magazine. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  3. ^ Baladi, Enab (17 October 2018). "Three Syrian novels win the "Katara" award for the Arabic novel". Enjazaat. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  4. ^ "نجاة عبدالصمد: المبدعة المغبونة". Syria tv. 19 October 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Alsamad | Edition Faust" (in German). Retrieved 9 December 2023.