Saud Alsanousi

Who is Saud Alsanousi?

Saud Alsanousi is a Kuwaiti novelist, playwright, and journalist who emerged as one of the most acclaimed young voices in contemporary Arabic literature. Born in 1981, he made his literary debut in 2010 with The Prisoner of Mirrors, which won the Laila Al-Othman Prize for emerging writers. His breakthrough came with the 2012 novel The Bamboo Stalk (Saq al-Bambu), which follows a young man of mixed Kuwaiti-Filipino heritage navigating questions of identity, belonging, and race between the Philippines and Kuwait; the book won the State of Kuwait Award for Literature and, in 2013, made Alsanousi the youngest author to win the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, often called the "Arabic Booker." The Bamboo Stalk was later translated into more than a dozen languages and was named among the Top 100 Arabic Novels by the British magazine Banipal in 2018. Alsanousi's fiction consistently examines Kuwaiti society's relationship with foreign labor, identity, and social change, giving voice to communities often overlooked in Gulf literature. His later work, including the historical trilogy The Scrolls of Mud City, continues to explore Kuwait's pearl-diving and merchant past. He remains an active journalist and cultural commentator in Kuwait.

Sources: Wikipedia, "Saud Alsanousi" · The National, "Book Club author interview: Saud Alsanousi discusses The Bamboo Stalk" · International Prize for Arabic Fiction, 2013 winner announcement