Ibrahim Nasrallah

Ibrahim Nasrallah is a Palestinian novelist and poet born in 1954 in a refugee camp in Amman, Jordan, to Palestinian parents. He is one of the most prolific and important Palestinian writers of the contemporary era, the author of more than twenty novels and numerous collections of poetry. He has worked as a teacher and has lived primarily in Jordan and the Gulf. Nasrallah's major project is the Balad al-Barra'i (The Lanterns of the King of Galilee) series, a multi-volume saga of Palestinian history from the 18th century to the present. The series has been compared to Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy in its ambition and scope. Other major novels include Prairies of Fever (1985) and Time of White Horses (2007). The Second War of the Dog (Harb al-Kalb al-Thaniya), his IPAF-winning novel of 2018, is a dystopian satire set in an unnamed Arab country under authoritarian rule, following the experiences of ordinary citizens under surveillance and oppression. The novel uses the framework of political allegory to critique contemporary Arab governance. Nasrallah is one of the most significant Arab writers of his generation and a central figure in Palestinian literary culture. His work has been translated into numerous languages.