Hanna Ali is set to take the literary scene by storm with her dreamlike prose in her debut publication, “Sheekadii noloshayada”, a collection of four short stories published in Somali.
Hanna Ali is the first contemporary writer to publish her debut in the Somali language as both in audio and e-book format. Hanna’s works have been described to accurately capture the unspoken tensions, hopes and wishes of displaced people. The unique, singular stories gently wrap themselves around your mind like your favorite melancholic song. Hanna truly shows: where there is pain, there is beauty.
“Home and (un)belonging are important themes in all of my creative works and also spills into my academic research because at the core of everything I do, I’m always fascinated by what home means to those who have been forced to flee and grow up elsewhere,” says Hanna.
Hanna’s words depict the different phases of a young girl’s life, shifting perspectives from a refugee girl in Sweden to a grown woman in England, trying to find comfort in her own body, and a Somali woman stuck in a loveless marriage. Hanna pushes the envelope and expands the limits of literature, both stylistically and thematically. Her unflinching narratives never shy away from controversial topics, as is the case in “A Kind of Love” where she explores the sexual relationship between a young Muslim girl and a white British nationalist.
Hanna was short listed for the London Short Story Prize, she is a member of Exiled Writers, and her work has been published in numerous publications including: Scarf Magazine, Brittle Paper and Cecile’s Writer’s Magazine.
Hanna Ali is a writer, a poet, a Teaching Fellow and a PhD candidate at SOAS, University of London where she specializes in Afro-Arab identity and migrant writers.
"Sheekadii noloshena" by Hanna Ali will be available on October 24.