# Farah Awl (Faarax Cawl)

> Farah Awl (1937-1991): first Somali novelist in the Latin script, author of Aqoondarro waa u nacab jacayl.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/people/farah-awl/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## Who was he?

Farah Mohamed Jama Awl, usually credited as Farah Awl, was a Somali writer born in 1937 in Las Khorey in north-eastern Somalia ([Wikipedia, Farah Awl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farah_Awl)). His surname Cawl, meaning "gazelle", was the nickname of his great-grandfather, a sultan of the Warsangali (same source). See [Sanaag](/en/regions/sanaag/).

From 1959 to 1962 he studied aeronautical and automobile engineering in [London](/en/diaspora/london/) on a scholarship (same source). He then returned to Somalia and worked with the police and the National Transport Agency in Mogadishu (same source).

## Writing

He was the first Somali novelist to write in the Latin script after it was made official for Somali in 1972 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farah_Awl)). His work is known for its descriptions of Somalia's landscape and wildlife and for including traditional Somali poetry (same source). His books include (same source):

- *Aqoondarro waa u nacab jacayl* (Ignorance is the enemy of love), listed by Wikipedia under both 1974 and 1982
- *Garbaduubkii gumeysiga* (The shackles of colonialism), 1978
- *Dhibbanaha aan dhalan* (The unborn victim), 1989

## Death

He was killed in 1991, with three of his children, during the fighting in Beledweyne in Hiiraan ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farah_Awl)). Wikipedia states that he was reportedly targeted because of his clan family (same source). His wife and one son survived him (same source). See [Hiiraan](/en/regions/hiiraan/).

## In short

An engineer turned novelist who pioneered the Somali-language novel in the Latin script and was killed in Beledweyne in 1991.

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