# Maxamed Daahir Afrax (Mohamed Dahir Afrah)

> Maxamed Daahir Afrax: Somali novelist of Maana-faay and editor of the literary journal Hal-Abuur.

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

## Who is he?

Maxamed Daahir Afrax is a Somali novelist, playwright, journalist and scholar ([Wikipedia, Maxamed Daahir Afrax](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxamed_Daahir_Afrax)).

## Novels and journal

His novel *Maana-faay* was first published in 1981 and reissued in [London](/en/diaspora/london/) in 1997 (same source). Wikipedia notes it is reportedly the first novel written in the romanised Somali script (same source). Our page on [Farah Awl](/en/people/farah-awl/) records a similar claim for Awl, so both are listed here as Wikipedia gives them.

In 1993 he launched *Hal-Abuur*, a journal of Somali literature and culture (same source). The historian Lidwien Kapteijns reviewed his novels in that journal as "a window on Somali society" (same source).

## Scholarship

His studies include ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxamed_Daahir_Afrax)):

- *Nadaraat fi Athaqaafah As-Soomaaliyah* (An introduction to Somali culture), in Arabic, published in Sharjah
- an Arabic essay on the poetry of [Hadraawi](/en/people/hadraawi/), 1987
- "A Nation of Poets, or Art-loving People?", 1994
- "The Mirror of Culture: Somali Dissolution Seen Through Oral Literature", in *The Somali Challenge*, 1994
- *Dal Dad Waayey iyo Duni Damiir Beeshay: Soomaaliya Dib ma u Dhalan Doontaa?* (A land without leaders in a world without conscience: can Somalia be reborn?), revised edition 2004

## In short

A novelist and critic who founded the journal Hal-Abuur and has written widely on Somali literature.

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