Somali authors and their books: poetry, novels, memoirs and history

How Somali writing in books began

For centuries Somali poetry was composed and passed on by memory, not on paper (Somali poetry). Somali scholars wrote in Arabic, for example Abd al-Rahman al-Zayla'i and the historian Sharif Aydarus, whose Bughyat al-amal fi tarikh al-Sumal (1950s) is an Arabic history of Somalia.

The first books in Somali written in Latin letters appeared in the 1950s and 1960s, by writers such as Musa Galaal and Shire Jaamac Axmed. After the government made the Latin script official in October 1972 (Somali written, 1972), publishing in Somali grew quickly. Faarax M. J. Cawl's Aqoondarro waa u nacab jacayl (1974) was one of the first novels in the new script and was translated into English in 1982 as Ignorance is the Enemy of Love (Internet Archive).

Writing in other languages

Nuruddin Farah has written his novels in English since From a Crooked Rib (1970). In the diaspora, Somali writers publish in English (Nadifa Mohamed, Warsan Shire), Italian (Igiaba Scego, Ubah Cristina Ali Farah, Shirin Ramzanali Fazel), French (Abdourahman Waberi of Djibouti) and Dutch (Ayaan Hirsi Ali). Memoirs by public figures, such as the former prime minister Abdirizak Haji Hussein, record political history from the inside.

Poets' work also reaches print. Hadraawi's poems were collected in Hal-karaan (1993), and a bilingual English-Somali edition of his long poem Daalacan appeared as The Poet's Pilgrimage. The play Shabeelnaagood (1968) by Hassan Sheikh Mumin was published in English as Leopard Among the Women in 1974 (Internet Archive).

The books, oldest first

Bughyat al-amal fi tarikh al-Sumal (1955)

Sharif Aydarus al-Nadiri · Arabic

History of Somalia in Arabic from early Islam to the 20th century, published in Mogadishu.

Where to read: Find in a library (WorldCat)

Hikmad Soomaali (1956)

Bernhard W. Andrzejewski & Musa H. I. Galaal · Somali / English

Somali prose stories and wisdom tales, transcribed in Latin letters.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Gabayo, maahmaah iyo sheekooyin yaryar (1965)

Shire Jaamac Axmed · Somali

Poems, proverbs and short stories, one of the first Somali-language books in Latin letters.

Where to read: Find in a library (WorldCat)

Shabeelnaagood (Leopard Among the Women) (1968 (English 1974))

Hassan Sheikh Mumin · Somali / English

Play about a man who exploits women in Mogadishu; translated by B. W. Andrzejewski.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

From a Crooked Rib (1970)

Nuruddin Farah · English

Novel: a young nomad woman, Ebla, escapes a forced marriage.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · HathiTrust · Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Aqoondarro Waa U Nacab Jacayl (Ignorance is the Enemy of Love) (1974 (English 1982))

Faarax M. J. Cawl · Somali / English

Early novel in the new Somali script; a love story set during the Dervish era.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Diiwaanka Gabayadii Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan (ed. Jaamac Cumar Ciise) (1974)

Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan (Sayyid) · Somali

Collected poems of the Sayyid, gathered by Jaamac Cumar Ciise.

Where to read: Find in a library (WorldCat)

Taariikhdii Daraawiishta iyo Sayid Maxamad Cabdulle Xasan (1976)

Jaamac Cumar Ciise · Somali

History of the Dervishes and the Sayyid, written in Somali from oral sources.

Where to read: Find in a library (WorldCat)

A Naked Needle (1976)

Nuruddin Farah · English

Second novel, set in Mogadishu after 1969.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Sweet and Sour Milk (1979)

Nuruddin Farah · English

First novel of the 'Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship' trilogy.

Where to read: Full page on this book · HathiTrust · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Maana-faay (1981)

Maxamed Daahir Afrax · Somali

Novel in Somali on a woman in Mogadishu.

Where to read: Find in a library (WorldCat)

Maps (1986)

Nuruddin Farah · English

Novel of a boy, Askar, raised in the Ogaden around the 1977 war.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Find in a library (WorldCat)

The Road to Zero: Somalia's Self-destruction (1992)

Mohamed Osman Omar · English

Former diplomat's account of the fall of the state.

Where to read: Find in a library (WorldCat)

Gifts (1992)

Nuruddin Farah · English

Novel set in Mogadishu; second of the 'Blood in the Sun' trilogy.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Hal-karaan (collected poems) (1993)

Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame 'Hadraawi' · Somali

Collected poems of Hadraawi.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Lontano da Mogadiscio (1994)

Shirin Ramzanali Fazel · Italian

Memoir of growing up in Mogadishu and moving to Italy.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Le pays sans ombre (1994)

Abdourahman A. Waberi · French

Stories of Djibouti and the Somali world.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

The Cost of Dictatorship: The Somali Experience (1995)

Jama Mohamed Ghalib · English

Memoir and analysis by a former minister of the Barre years.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Desert Flower (1998)

Waris Dirie & Cathleen Miller · English

Memoir of a nomad girl who became a model and campaigner against FGM.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Secrets (1998)

Nuruddin Farah · English

Novel set in Mogadishu on the eve of the civil war.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Yesterday, Tomorrow: Voices from the Somali Diaspora (2000)

Nuruddin Farah · English

Interviews with Somali refugees and migrants.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Links (2003)

Nuruddin Farah · English

Novel of a diaspora Somali returning to Mogadishu.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Infidel (2006 (English 2007))

Ayaan Hirsi Ali · Dutch / English

Memoir of childhood in Somalia, Saudi Arabia and Kenya and life in the Netherlands.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Madre piccola (2007)

Ubah Cristina Ali Farah · Italian

Novel of Somali women in Rome and the diaspora.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Black Mamba Boy (2010)

Nadifa Mohamed · English

Novel based on her father's journey from Yemen and Somaliland to Britain in the 1930s-40s.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

The Girl with Three Legs (2011)

Soraya Mire · English

Memoir of the Somali filmmaker and campaigner against FGM.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

The Orchard of Lost Souls (2013)

Nadifa Mohamed · English

Novel of three women in Hargeisa in 1987-1988.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

The Poet's Pilgrimage (Hadraawi: The Poet and the Man) (2013)

Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame 'Hadraawi' (trans. W. N. Herbert, Said Jama Hussein, Martin Orwin) · Somali / English

Bilingual edition of Hadraawi's long poem Daalacan.

Where to read: Find in a library (WorldCat)

Keeping Hope Alive: One Woman, 90,000 Lives Changed (2013)

Hawa Abdi with Sarah J. Robbins · English

Memoir of the doctor who ran a hospital and camp outside Mogadishu.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Adua (2015)

Igiaba Scego · Italian

Novel linking Italian colonial Somalia and today's Rome.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

My Role in the Foundation of the Somali Nation-State: A Political Memoir (2017)

Abdirazak Haji Hussein · English

Memoir of the prime minister of 1964-1967.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Find in a library (WorldCat)

This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman (2020)

Ilhan Omar · English

Memoir of the US congresswoman, from Mogadishu and Dadaab to Minneapolis.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

The Fortune Men (2021)

Nadifa Mohamed · English

Novel about Mahmood Mattan, a Somali seaman wrongly hanged in Cardiff in 1952; Booker Prize shortlist.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head (2022)

Warsan Shire · English

First full poetry collection by the British-Somali poet.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

America Made Me a Black Man (2022)

Boyah J. Farah · English

Memoir of a Somali refugee in the United States.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Related pages

• Somali poetry
• The Somali language
• Books about Somalis: every era