# Nadifa Mohamed (Nadiifa Maxamed)

> Nadifa Mohamed, born 1981 in Hargeisa: author of Black Mamba Boy, The Orchard of Lost Souls and the Booker-shortlisted The Fortune Men.

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

## Who is she?

Nadifa Mohamed is a Somali-British novelist. *Granta* named her among the Best of Young British Novelists in 2013 ([Wikipedia, Nadifa Mohamed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadifa_Mohamed)). In 2021 her third novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize ([The Booker Prizes, 2021 shortlist](https://thebookerprizes.com/media-centre/press-releases/the-2021-booker-prize-for-fiction-shortlist)).

## Early life

She was born in 1981 in Hargeisa. Her father was a sailor in the merchant navy ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadifa_Mohamed)). In 1986 the family moved to London for what was meant to be a short stay. War broke out in Somalia soon after, and they stayed (same source). She studied history and politics at St Hilda's College, Oxford. In 2008 she went back to Hargeisa for the first time in over a decade (same source).

## Her novels

- **Black Mamba Boy (2010).** Based on her father's life in Yemen and the region in the 1930s and 1940s. She said the book "grew out of a desire to learn more about my roots, to elucidate Somali history for a wider audience." It won the Betty Trask Award ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadifa_Mohamed)).
- **The Orchard of Lost Souls (2013).** Set in Hargeisa on the eve of the civil war, through the lives of three women. It won the Somerset Maugham Award in 2014 (same source).
- **The Fortune Men (2021).** The true story of [Mahmood Mattan](/en/books/the-fortune-men-mohamed/), a Somali sailor whom her father knew. He was wrongly convicted of murder in [Cardiff](/en/diaspora/cardiff/) in 1952 and was the last man hanged there (same source). It was shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize ([The Booker Prizes](https://thebookerprizes.com/media-centre/press-releases/the-2021-booker-prize-for-fiction-shortlist)). In 2022 it won Wales Book of the Year ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadifa_Mohamed)).

## Teaching and other work

She taught creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London, until 2021, and was Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University in 2022 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadifa_Mohamed)). She also writes essays and articles, including for *The Guardian*.

## In short

A novelist whose books are set among Somali sailors, families and the history of Hargeisa. See [Somalis in London](/en/diaspora/london/).

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