Ahmed Fagih

**Ahmed Ibrahim al-Fagih** ( _’áħmad 'Ibrāhīm al-faqīh_) (born December 28, 1942) is a Libyan novelist, playwright, essayist, journalist and diplomat. He began writing short stories at an early age. He published them in Libyan newspapers and magazines. Hl-Fagih gained recognition in 1965 when his first collection of short stories _There Is No Water in the Sea_ () won him the highest award sponsored by the Royal Commission of Fine Arts in Libya. Fagih wrote more many books in of different genres. They included short stories, novels, plays, and essays. Some of them are the _Gazelles (play)_ _Evening Visitor (play)_, _Gardens of the Night Trilogy (novels), The Valley of Ashes (novel)_, and his twelve volume epic novel _Maps of the Soul_.

Ahmed Fagih held several diplomatic posts representing Libya, in London, Athens, Bucharest and Cairo. Fagih lives and works between Cairo and Tripoli.

## Biography

Ahmed Fagih was born in 1942 in Mizda, Libya. It was a small oasis town south of Tripoli. He entered school there. Fagih studied until his teenage years. Then he migrated to Tripoli in 1957. He pursued higher studies. He began his writing career there. Fagih travelled in 1962 to Egypt to study journalism. He had help of a UNESCO sponsorship program. He returned later to Tripoli to work as a journalist. In 1965 he published his first collection of short stories titled _There Is No Water in the Sea (_Arabic:_ _البحر لا ماء فيه_) _which won him the highest award sponsored by the Royal Commission of Fine Arts in Libya. In the late 1960s he travelled to London. He studied drama and theatre until 1972. After returning from Britain he was appointed the director of the National Institute of Music and Drama. In 1972 Fagih became the editor of the influential cultural and literary newspaper _The Cultural Weekly (_Arabic: الاسبوع الثقافي _al-Usbūʻ al-thaqāfi_)_ _. It featured many new Libyan writers. During this period he founded _The New Theatre _play and drama group.

Fagih became the head of the Department of Arts and Literature at the Libyan Ministry of Information and Culture in 1978. He was one of the founders of the Union of Libyan Writers. He was elected as its first Secretary General. He later travelled back to London to take a diplomatic position as the press counsellor at the Libyan Embassy in the United Kingdom. He established the Arab Cultural Trust. It launched a cultural quarterly magazine named _Azure _becoming its editor-in-chief.

In 1983 he was awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy PhD from the Faculty of Arts of The University of Edinburgh submitting a thesis on 'The Libyan short story' He published his three part novel _Garden of The Night _in 1991. It won the best creative work of the Beirut Book Fair. In 2000, he edited an English anthology of 13 short stories by Libyan writers.

### Short Stories

- _There Is No Water in the Sea _(1965) البحر لا ماء فيه
- _Fasten Your Seatbelts_ اربطوا أحزمة المقاعد
- _The Stars Vanished So Where Are You? _أختفت النجوم فأين أنت؟
- _A Woman of Light_ إمرأة من ضوء
- _Five Beetles Trying the Tree_ خمس خنافس تحاكم الشجرة
- _Mirrors of Venice_ مرايا فينسيا
- _30 Short Stories_ ثلاثون قصة قصيرة

### Novels

- _Homeless Rats_ فئران بلا جحور
- _Valley of Ashes_ حقول الرماد
- _Shall Present You With Another City_ سأهبك مدينة أخرى
- _These Are The Borders of My Kingdom_ هذه تخوم مملكتي
- _A Tunnel Lit by A Woman_ نفق تضيئه أمرأة واحدة
- _The Trilogy (Garden of The Night)_ الثلاثية الروائية
- _Maps of The Soul_ خرائط الروح

### Plays

- _Gazelles_ الغزالات

## Other websites

- Banipal Magazine Biography page of Ahmed Fagih
- Maps of The Soul from DARF Publishers

## Infobox (writer)

- **name**: Ahmed Fagih
- **image**: PSX 20190509 191255.jpg
- **caption**: Ahmed Fagih
- **birth place**: Mizda, Libya
- **nationality**: Libyan
- **occupation**: Novelist, Playwright, Essayist, Diplomat
- **notableworks**: Garden of The Night Trilogy, Maps of the Soul