Risking his life for his writing

Somali writer Nuruddin Farah has faced numerous death threats since he first crossed his country’s regime. He tells Jo Kerrigan about life outside his homeland.

ONE of the star attractions at this year’s West Cork Literary Festival (July 7-13) will undoubtedly be Nuruddin Farah, the renowned Somali novelist.

Farah published his first novel, From A Crooked Rib, in 1970, just a year after his native country was taken over by General Barre, a man whose dictatorial and autocratic policies were to form the backdrop to later works. It is the story of a girl who flees from an arranged marriage to discover that male domination exists everywhere. Its intense perspective on life from the woman’s viewpoint is so convincing that the publishers at first could not accept a man had written it.