Nisreen Ghandouah Author of Al Nahr Al Thalith

Sumaiyya Naseem

1 February 2018

A CONVERSATION WITH NISREEN GHANDOURAH Author of Al Nahr Al Thalith

PROFESSION: Creative Copywriter FAVORITE CAFE: Medd

CURRENT READ: Stoner by John Williams (Arabic translation, Dar Athar)

Nisreen Ghandourah was a reader long before she published her own novel. As a child, the cabinets lled with books at home fascinated her, and the earliest seeds of writing were sowed while listening to her father read the stories in the Qur’an.

"There’s so much beauty in the storytelling. Each chapter and section is written for a particular audience. The Qur’an taught me the importance of knowing your audience, and nding the right point of view and the reason you’re telling the story."

-Nisreen Ghandourah

The metaphysical elements in the Qur’an fed her imagination and inspired her. A strong sense of language made her stand out in high school, and it was then that she realized she had a unique voice in writing. She believes that it’s important to discover one’s creative identity, saying, “Writing takes hard work. Once you know your voice you can build it.” The Saudi writer was only 22 when she completed her debut, Al Nahr Al Thalith (The Third River). Soon after graduating from Dar Al Hekma University in 2005, she dedicated her time and efforts to writing a story about the Iraq war of 2003. It’s been a decade since her debut was published, and since that time she has established herself as a promising voice from Saudi Arabia. It was after the publication of her debut that Ghandourah evolved into a well-known and respected writer. Under the wing of her publisher, she was able to connect with readers at book fairs and literary events, the most recent being the International Jeddah Book Fair. She dedicated the next few years to learning more about her craft. “I understood that any work could be better, so I took creative writing courses. There are hundreds of references on writing, but I wanted to be around like- minded people who are passionate about stories.” The courses she took were from City University, London School of Journalism, and Oxford University. Armed with an eye for introspection, she began revisiting her favorite Arabic novels to analyze and explore what made a story or character interesting. In the previous year, she used Instagram as a platform. to share her thoughts on the books she’s been reading. Ghandourah doesn’t believe in the concept of star ratings, “I prefer appreciating books for their quality, even if they don’t match my taste. I look at the effort, idea, creative style and relevance.” In her reviews, she introduces the plot of the book, gives her opinion and highlights the main takeaways. Ghandourah teamed up with Jeddah Reads to give a talk on Naguib Mahfouz, titled Respected Sir, after one of her favorite novels by the late author. It was a chance for her to dig deeper and introduce local readers to the brilliance of the writer and how he captured an era of Egypt through literature. She feels it’s important to have such literary discussions in Jeddah, and more options for buying books. “We need libraries or literary clubs where people can get together to discuss books. When I was in my teenage years we had a problem with supply, but we can shop online now.” While collections in local bookstores are still quite limited, websites like Jamalon and Book Depository are good options for bookworms. Nisreen Ghandourah is currently writing her second novel, which is set in Saudi Arabia. The story follows a set of characters who were raised in Saudi in the 80s. “The main character is a horse trainer; I was inspired by the beautiful description of horses in classical Arabic poetry.”

Al Nahr Al Thalith follows three journalists on a mission to cover the untold stories of the war in Iraq. Ghandourah took up the task of conducting intensive research through documentaries, books, interviews, and diaries to expand her sense of Iraqi culture and society. Her novel shows that life goes on, but it’s up to people in a crisis to either recover or collapse. “I wanted to highlight the reality of war and its destruction of human legacy. Through my characters I portrayed how it a ects people on a social and psychological level. War doesn’t solve problems, it just makes people scared of each other.”

SUPPORT LOCAL

Nisreeen Ghandourah recommends the works of Saudi writers, Mohammed Hasan Alwan, Taher Zahrani, Mohanna Tayeb, and Fahd Al Fahd.

Web: nisreenag.com Email: nisreenag@gmail.com

Twitter/ Instagram: @n_ghandourah