Ibn Shatwān, Najwá

Najwa Bin Shatwan (Arabic: نجوى بن شتوان) is a Libyan academic and novelist, the first Libyan to ever be shortlisted for the International Prize of Arabic Fiction (in 2017). She has authored four novels: Waber Al Ahssina (The Horses’ Hair); Madmum Burtuqali (Orange Content); Zareeb Al-Abeed (The Slave Yards); and Roma Termini, in addition to several collections of short stories, plays and contributions to anthologies. She was chosen as one of the thirty-nine best Arab authors under the age of forty by Hay Festival’s Beirut 39 project (2009). In 2018, she was chosen from hundreds of Arab writers for the 2018 Banipal Writing Fellowship Residency at the University of Durham and in 2020, she was chosen to co-lead a series of creative writing workshops in Sharjah (World Capital of the year book 2019) for Arab writers. Also, she was chosen as a member of jury in various literary awards/grants.