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Leila Aboulela

Goodreads Author

Born

in Cairo, Egypt

Genre

Literature & Fiction

Member Since

January 2011

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Leila Aboulela grew up in Khartoum, Sudan where she attended the Khartoum American School and Sister School. She graduated from Khartoum University in 1985 with a degree in Economics and was awarded her Masters degree in statistics from the London School of Economics. She lived for many years in Aberdeen where she wrote most of her works while looking after her family; she currently lives and lectures in Abu Dhabi.

She was awarded the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2000 for her short story The Museum and her novel The Translator was nominated for the Orange Prize in 2002, and was chosen as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times in 2006.

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Average rating: 3.66 · 13,176 ratings · 2,090 reviews · 34 distinct works • Similar authors

	Minaret 3.58 avg rating — 2,968 ratings — published 2005 — 26 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Translator 3.57 avg rating — 2,195 ratings — published 1999 — 33 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lyrics Alley 3.78 avg rating — 1,500 ratings — published 2010 — 31 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Kindness of Enemies 3.79 avg rating — 1,128 ratings — published 2015 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bird Summons 3.28 avg rating — 1,155 ratings — published 2019 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	River Spirit 4.01 avg rating — 912 ratings — published 2023 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Elsewhere, Home 3.69 avg rating — 824 ratings — published 2018 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Coloured Lights 3.80 avg rating — 163 ratings — published 2005 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Museum 3.52 avg rating — 141 ratings — published 2002 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Twenty Years of the Caine Prize for African Writing by Leila Aboulela (Goodreads Author) (contributor), Helon Habila (contributor), Binyavanga Wainaina (contributor) 3.72 avg rating — 72 ratings — published 2019 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Bird Summons

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Jan 12, 2020 02:28AM

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Quotes by Leila Aboulela (?)

“All through life there were distinctions - toilets for men, toilets for women; clothes for men, clothes for women - then, at the end, the graves are identical.”
― Leila Aboulela, Minaret

tags: death, gender-equality, life

65 likes

“The Mercy of Allah is an Ocean, Our sins are a lump of clay clenched between the beak of a pigeon. The pigeon is perched on the branch of a tree at the edge of that ocean.It only has to open it's beak”
― Leila Aboulela, Minaret

tags: allah, bird, clay, leila, lyrics-alley, mercy, minaret, the-translater

29 likes

“Allah tests our patience and our fortitude. He tests out strength of faith. be patient and there will endless rewards for you, insha'Allah" - Utaz Badr”
― Leila Aboulela, Lyrics Alley

tags: faith, islam, spiritual

28 likes

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Polls

Which fiction books do you want to read this summer?

Ayiti by Roxane Gay

2 votes, 66.7%

The Cake Tree in the Ruins by Akiyuki Nosaka

1 vote, 33.3%

Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela

0 votes, 0.0%

Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila

0 votes, 0.0%

3 total votes

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The Seasonal Read...: Completed Tasks (Do Not Delete Posts)	2559	640	Aug 01, 2014 02:12PM
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Leila’s Quotes

“The sweetest things in life were not necessarily what one strove for and grabbed. Instead, many many times the All-Merciful, the All-Generous would give His servants without being petitioned, without waiting to be asked.”
― Leila Aboulela, Lyrics Alley

2 likes

“The blow, inevitable in itself, comes straight from the source without any intermediaries.”
― Leila Aboulela, Lyrics Alley

3 likes

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