Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Sonia Nimr is a Palestinian writer and storyteller . She is an assistant professor and faculty member in the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies at Birzeit University in Palestine . She holds a PhD in History from the University of Exeter in the UK. Sonia writes folk tales in colloquial Arabic and children's stories, and has won the Katara Prize for Arabic Fiction and first prize in the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children's Literature in the category of Arabic Young Adult Literature. She was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award and the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Award for this .
her life
Dr. Nimr was born in Jenin in 1955. She began her university studies and was arrested in the Israeli Ramla prison for the first time in 1975 during her second year at university. She spent 3 years in the Israeli occupation prisons . During these years, Dr. Nimr’s interest in writing children’s books developed.
She was later arrested in 1990 , most of which she spent in prison cells. In 1990 , she completed her doctoral dissertation at the University of Exeter in Britain, and since 2006 she has held the position of lecturer and assistant professor at Birzeit University in the Center for Cultural Studies, and was also an education officer at the Museum of London.
Nimr was born into a cultured family that loved learning. Her grandfather (Saeed Nimr) was one of the pioneers of medicine in Palestine in 1914 , her father was an engineer, and her uncle Issam Nimr participated in the first landing on the moon in the Apollo spacecraft . Nimr's mother was the first to encourage her to pursue her path in writing children's stories, as she encouraged her to read stories from a young age. She began writing children's stories when she was arrested by the Israeli occupation , as she wrote her first two stories during her arrest, but they were later confiscated and she did not write them again.
After her release from prison, she went to Britain and completed her studies to obtain a doctorate in oral history, and later worked in the education department at the British Museum for eight years.
Her works
Nimr published 16 children's books, and published a collection of tales from Palestinian legend that took on a humorous literary form. She also wrote a collection of popular books and books written in simple colloquial language , and translated many books.
Children's and young adult books
A story that begins with fantasy and ends with fantasy (2002)
A Little Piece of Earth (2003) - co-written with Elizabeth Laird and received critical acclaim
The Treacherous Ghoul (2008) - Characterized by a sense of humor
Modern Illustrated History of Palestine for Young Adults (2008) - co-authored with Saad Nimr
Zalouta (2011) - In collaboration with Souad Naji
Mukhtar Abu Danin Kabar (2011)
Strange Journeys in Strange Lands (2013) - Winner of first place in the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature in the category of Arabic Young Adult Literature for the year 2014
King of Tales (2014)
Thunderbird
Tanbouri Shoes (2016) - In collaboration with Rasha Hamami
Achievements and Awards
awards
2017 - Shortlisted for the ninth edition of the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature - one of the most important and prominent awards for children’s literature in the Arab world
2018 - Nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Prize - a prestigious award for children's literature established by the Swedish government and called the "Nobel Prize for Children's Literature"
2014 - First place in the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature in the category of Arabic Young Adult Literature
Nominated for the Khans Christian Anderson Award - the highest international recognition for authors and illustrators of children's books, presented by the IBBY Foundation
Nominated for the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Award for Young Thinkers and Emerging Leaders
Source
- Years in active
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