Najat El Hachmi
| Najat El Hachmi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
June 2, 1979 Nador, Morocco |
| Language | Spanish, Arabic, Berber, Catalan |
| Nationality | Moroccan - Spanish |
Najat El Hachmi (born in Morocco on July 2, 1979) is a Moroccan-Spanish writer.[1]
Life
At the age of 8 she immigrated with her family to Catalonia, Spain. El Hachmi studied Arab literature at the University of Barcelona and currently resides in Granollers. She began writing when she was twelve years old and has continued ever since, first as entertainment, and later as a means to express concerns or to reflect and re-create her own reality, in the (at least) two cultures to which she belongs.
Career
Her first book, Jo també sóc catalana (I am also Catalan, 2004), was strictly autobiographical, dealing with the issue of identity, and the growth of her sense of belonging to her new country. In 2005, she participated in an event sponsored by the European Institute of the Mediterranean, along with other Catalan writers of foreign descent, including Matthew Tree, Salah Jamal, Laila Karrouch and Mohamed Chaib. During the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2007, where Catalan culture was the featured guest of honour, she traveled to various German cities to participate in conferences in which she offered her perspective on contemporary Catalan literature. El Hachmi has made frequent appearances in the media, including Catalunya Radio, and the newspaper Vanguardia.
In 2008, she won one of the most prestigious award in Catalan letters, the Ramon Llull prize, for her novel L'últim patriarca (The Last Patriarch). The novel tells the story of a Moroccan who immigrates to Spain, a sometimes despotic patriarch who enters into conflict with his daughter, who breaks with the traditional values of the old country to adapt to the new, modern culture in which she finds herself.
Works
- 2004 "Jo també sóc catalana" (I am also Catalan)
- 2008 "L'últim patriarca" (The Last Patriarch)
- 2010 El Hachmi, Najat (2010). The last patriarch. London: Serpent's Tail. ISBN 978-1-84668-717-4.
- 2011 The body Hunter, Serpent's Tail, 2013.
- 2015 La filla estrangera, Edicions 62.
Awards
- 2008 Ramon Llull prize for the Last Patriarch
References
- ↑ Bajak, Frank (22 January 2010). "Literature lovers head to Cartagena for Hay Festival". USA Today. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
CRAMERI, Kathryn (2014): “Hybridity and Catalonia Linguistic Borders: the Case of Najat El Hachmi”, in Flocel SABATÉ (ed.) Hybrid Identities. An interdisciplinary approach to the roots of present. Peter Lang, s/p.
PHILLIPPS, Haarlson y Philip LEVINE (2012): “The Word Hunter: Interview with Najat el Hachmi”, en ID. The best of Barcelona INK, Barcelona, pp. 106-108.
POMAR-AMER, Miquel (2014): "Voices emerging from the border. A reading of the autobiographies by Najat El Hachmi and Saïd El Kadaoui as political interventions", PLANETA LITERATUR. JOURNAL OF GLOBAL LITERARY STUDIES 1/2014, 33-52, online, http://www.planeta-literatur.com/uploads/2/0/4/9/20493194/pl_1_2014_33_52.pdf
SONG, Rosi H. (2014): “Narrating identity in Najat El Hachmi’s L’últim patriarca”, en AIELLO, Lucia, Joy CHARNLEY y Mariangela PALLADINO (eds.), Displaced women. Multilingual Narratives of Migration in Europe. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
External links
- Literary news about Najat El Hachmi in Lletra, Catalan literature online at the Open University of Catalonia.
- Najat El Hachmi books
- Library Thing
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