Jamal Mahjoub – författare

________________'This anthology will help turn your intellectual understanding of oppression into an emotional one' - New Statesman'Thanks for being who you are and for giving us such exposure to wonderful people. Palestine is proud of you' - Suad Amiry________________The Palestine Festival of Literature was established in 2008. Bringing together writers from all corners of the globe, it aims to help Palestinians break the cultural siege imposed by the Israeli military occupation, to strengthen their artistic links with the rest of the world, and to reaffirm, in the words of Edward Said, ‘the power of culture over the culture of power’.Celebrating the tenth anniversary of PalFest, This Is Not a Border is a collection of essays, poems and stories from some of the world’s most distinguished artists, responding to their experiences at this unique festival. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, their gathered work is a testament to the power of literature to promote solidarity and courage in the most desperate of situations.Contributors: Susan Abulhawa, Suad Amiry, Victoria Brittain, Jehan Bseiso, Teju Cole, Molly Crabapple, Selma Dabbagh, Mahmoud Darwish, Najwan Darwish, Geoff Dyer, Yasmin El-Rifae, Adam Foulds, Ru Freeman, Omar Robert Hamilton, Suheir Hammad, Nathalie Handal, Mohammed Hanif, Jeremy Harding, Rachel Holmes, John Horner, Remi Kanazi, Brigid Keenan, Mercedes Kemp, Omar El-Khairy, Nancy Kricorian, Sabrina Mahfouz, Jamal Mahjoub, Henning Mankell, Claire Messud, China Miéville, Pankaj Mishra, Deborah Moggach, Muiz, Maath Musleh, Michael Palin, Ed Pavlic, Atef Abu Saif, Kamila Shamsie, Raja Shehadeh, Gillian Slovo, Ahdaf Soueif, Linda Spalding, Will Sutcliffe, Alice WalkerWith messages from China Achebe, Michael Ondaatje and J. M. Coetzee________________'Every literary act, whether it is a great epic poem or an honest piece of journalism or a simple nonsense tale for children is a blow against the forces of stupidity and ignorance and darkness … The Palestine Festival of Literature exists to do just that – and I salute it for its work. Not only this year but for as long as it is necessary' - Philip Pullman

In this brilliantly clever fictionalised memoir, award-winning author Jamal Mahjoub interrogates how the first generation of Northern Sudanese citizens undertook the momentous task of creating a newly independent nation.Exiled in a dilapidated hotel in South-West France, Sharif looks back on his rich and eventful life to date. Memories of a bohemian existence in England and France – a time of love affairs and excess – clash with more recent memories of navigating the volatile and unprecedented political situation in North Africa.With wry wit, Sharif recalls the wealth of extraordinary characters who have passed through his life and tries to make sense of an existence lived in disarray.

________________''This anthology will help turn your intellectual understanding of oppression into an emotional one'' - New Statesman''Thanks for being who you are and for giving us such exposure to wonderful people. Palestine is proud of you'' - Suad Amiry________________The Palestine Festival of Literature was established in 2008. Bringing together writers from all corners of the globe, it aims to help Palestinians break the cultural siege imposed by the Israeli military occupation, to strengthen their artistic links with the rest of the world, and to reaffirm, in the words of Edward Said, ''the power of culture over the culture of power''.Celebrating the tenth anniversary of PalFest, This Is Not a Border is a collection of essays, poems and stories from some of the world''s most distinguished artists, responding to their experiences at this unique festival. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, their gathered work is a testament to the power of literature to promote solidarity and courage in the most desperate of situations.Contributors: Susan Abulhawa, Suad Amiry, Victoria Brittain, Jehan Bseiso, Teju Cole, Molly Crabapple, Selma Dabbagh, Mahmoud Darwish, Najwan Darwish, Geoff Dyer, Yasmin El-Rifae, Adam Foulds, Ru Freeman, Omar Robert Hamilton, Suheir Hammad, Nathalie Handal, Mohammed Hanif, Jeremy Harding, Rachel Holmes, John Horner, Remi Kanazi, Brigid Keenan, Mercedes Kemp, Omar El-Khairy, Nancy Kricorian, Sabrina Mahfouz, Jamal Mahjoub, Henning Mankell, Claire Messud, China Miéville, Pankaj Mishra, Deborah Moggach, Muiz, Maath Musleh, Michael Palin, Ed Pavlic, Atef Abu Saif, Kamila Shamsie, Raja Shehadeh, Gillian Slovo, Ahdaf Soueif, Linda Spalding, Will Sutcliffe, Alice WalkerWith messages from China Achebe, Michael Ondaatje and J. M. Coetzee________________''Every literary act, whether it is a great epic poem or an honest piece of journalism or a simple nonsense tale for children is a blow against the forces of stupidity and ignorance and darkness … The Palestine Festival of Literature exists to do just that – and I salute it for its work. Not only this year but for as long as it is necessary'' - Philip Pullman

Yasin is driving through Europe in a dilapidated Peugeot 504 with his seven-year-old son Leo. He's not sure where they're going. He just knows he's thirty-seven years old, his wife is about to divorce him and this is his last chance to explain to his son who he is and where he comes from. The problem is that Yasin isn't sure of the answer to these questions himself. Born in the Sudan to an English mother and an Arab father, he has two passports but no national identity. As he and Leo drift through Germany to Paris in search of Europe's history, and onwards through Provence to Spain to find Yasin's ex-lover and his lost brother, Yasin reflects on the tragic-comic ironies of his displaced life and the kind of mixed-up world his son will inhabit. 'An exceptionally gifted novelist' Le Monde

_______________'A wonderfully subtle exploration of place, identity and memory' - PD Smith, Guardian'A highly readable and authoritative celebration of a little-understood country and its capital city' - Geographical'A travelogue and memoir to rank alongside anything by Chatwin or Thubron' - Jim Crace'A most absorbing and rewarding book' - Michael Palin_______________A moving portrait, part history, part memoir, of Sudan – once the largest, most diverse country in Africa – and its self-destructionIn 1956, Sudan gained independence from Britain. On the brink of a promising future, it instead descended into civil war and conflict. When the 1989 coup brought a hard-line Islamist regime to power, Jamal Mahjoub’s family were among those who fled. Almost twenty years later, he returned.Rediscovering the city in which his formative years were spent, Mahjoub encounters people and places he left behind. The capital contains the key to understanding Sudan’s divided, contradictory nature and while exploring Khartoum’s present – its changing identity and shifting moods; its wealthy elite and neglected poor – Mahjoub also delves into the country’s troubled history. His search for answers evolves into a thoughtful meditation on the meaning of identity, both personal and national.A Line in the River combines lyrical and evocative memoir with a nuanced exploration of a country’s complex history, politics and religion. The result is both captivating and revelatory.

_______________''A wonderfully subtle exploration of place, identity and memory'' - PD Smith, Guardian''A highly readable and authoritative celebration of a little-understood country and its capital city'' - Geographical''A travelogue and memoir to rank alongside anything by Chatwin or Thubron'' - Jim Crace''A most absorbing and rewarding book'' - Michael Palin_______________A moving portrait, part history, part memoir, of Sudan – once the largest, most diverse country in Africa – and its self-destructionIn 1956, Sudan gained independence from Britain. On the brink of a promising future, it instead descended into civil war and conflict. When the 1989 coup brought a hard-line Islamist regime to power, Jamal Mahjoub''s family were among those who fled. Almost twenty years later, he returned. Rediscovering the city in which his formative years were spent, Mahjoub encounters people and places he left behind. The capital contains the key to understanding Sudan''s divided, contradictory nature and while exploring Khartoum''s present – its changing identity and shifting moods; its wealthy elite and neglected poor – Mahjoub also delves into the country''s troubled history. His search for answers evolves into a thoughtful meditation on the meaning of identity, both personal and national. A Line in the River combines lyrical and evocative memoir with a nuanced exploration of a country''s complex history, politics and religion. The result is both captivating and revelatory.

Liverpool, 1958, and German refugee and inventor Ernst Frager is in search of a sense of belonging. What he finds is an unusual nightclub on the Mersyside docks, and Miranda: hat-check girl, aspiring jazz singer and daughter of West Indian immigrants. Their doomed love affair will have repercussions for the children waiting for Ernst back in London, but also for the daughter Miranda gives birth to. Almost half a century later, Jade finds herself grappling with the very questions that drove her father into the arms of her mother, and realising that a successful career cannot define an identity; nor can you separate your existence from all the many other stories connected to it ...Like the jazz that snakes its way though this beautiful novel, The Drift Latitudes is about how we improvise our lives and the chances we take. From the Nubian boy who flees the tedium of home to find the bright lights of New York's jazz scene, to Ernst's daughter Rachel who turns her back on Europe and follows her husband to the Sudan, it is about the movement of people around our globe and the interdependence of our dreams. Awash with memorable characters, filled with unputdownable stories, this is a brilliantly intricate novel that lingers in the mind long after its final note.

In this brilliantly clever fictionalised memoir, award-winning author Jamal Mahjoub interrogates how the first generation of Northern Sudanese citizens undertook the momentous task of creating a newly independent nation.Exiled in a dilapidated hotel in South-West France, Sharif looks back on his rich and eventful life to date. Memories of a bohemian existence in England and France – a time of love affairs and excess – clash with more recent memories of navigating the volatile and unprecedented political situation in North Africa.With wry wit, Sharif recalls the wealth of extraordinary characters who have passed through his life and tries to make sense of an existence lived in disarray.