Libyan writer Ahmed Ibrahim Fagih to discuss his work at UNE on Feb. 23rd
The University of New England will host a talk titled "A Writer's Notes" by Ahmed Ibrahim Fagih, Ph.D., an internationally known Libyan writer, Monday, Feb. 23, 2009 at 12-1 p.m. in Sutton Lounge, Decary Hall, on UNE's Biddeford campus.
This event is sponsored by the Political Science and English departments. It is free and open to the public.
Biography
Ahmed Ibrahim Fagih was born in Mizda, Libya in 1942, and educated in Libya, Egypt, and Scotland. He finished his Ph. D., in literature at University of Edinburgh in 1982. Since 1965 he has written essays, novels, plays and collections of short stories while holding positions as columnist, diplomat, journalist, and director of an institute of music and drama in Tripoli, Libya.
Dr. Fagih has published 40 books in Arabic and a growing number in other languages. The list of his books in English includes five novels and four collections of short stories and eight plays, many of them were performed in theatres in the United Kingdom and the United States. His writings include the trilogy Gardens of the Night which won the award for the best novel in Arabic in 1991. His new novel Maps of the Soul, was published in 2008.
He founded and chaired many institutions in his country and abroad. Among the posts he occupied is the chairman of Arab Cultural Trust. He was elected as the general secretary of the Libyan union of writers and artists, the director of Libyan national institute of drama and music. Dr. Fagih directed and performed many plays for the theatre group he founded in Tripoli “The New Theatre”, and became the editor of the Libyan prestigious literary paper the Al Isbu’ al-Thaqafi, between 1970-1980.
Diplomatic Missions
Dr. Fagih served as the head of Libya’s diplomatic missions in Athens and Bucharest. He is the chairman of the Mizda heritage society and was awarded the highest medal in his country, The Grand al-Fatah Medal in 1989.
He was invited with few distinguished Arab writers and artists to participate in a program “Literature and the Real Arab World” March 7, 2009, part of the Kennedy Center’s ARABESQUE: Arts of the Arab World. This program is sponsored by the International Division of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Recently, his play When the Stars Sing was performed by the Drama School at New York University.
For more information, contact Professor Ali Ahmida at 602-2804.