Writing books: The young man who is filling an important gap
Being a writer is a challenging task in general. And, because Somalis are typically regarded as an oral society, each Somali writer fills a gap in Somali communities. For Somali writers, it’s challenging work to take the responsibility of writing books for your people without obtaining anything in return. As a result of that, the young generations are trying to fill that gap, including this young man.
Ahmed Abdullahi Dayib stated during our interview that he was born in the city of Gunagado in the Somali region. He attended his primary and secondary school in Garissa. Ahmed obtained his bachelor’s degree in Biological Laboratory; he completed it last year. He currently lives and works as a laboratory technician in a pharmaceutical firm after six years in Germany. He is, on the other hand, a relatively new children’s book author. He released SHEEKO XARIIR, his first book, last year, and will be publishing another children’s book called Aragsan and Her Family soon.
Ahmed talked about what made him want to write children’s books. “In general, I enjoy children’s novels because I used to read a lot of them when I first started learning the German language. I, on the other hand, adore and enjoy reading regular books. The idea of writing books came to me when one day I was randomly browsing books in my local city library and didn’t see even a single book that had anything to do with my Somali language or culture. From that day on, I realized there was a gap in my community, and I started to take that role to fill the gap.”
Every work has its unique set of problems and difficulties. When discussing the obstacles he faced and continues to face, the author noted that he had encountered some difficulties. “The language I’m using to write the books is not my native tongue, and the authors, who are mostly Somalis, don’t have access to independent editors, which is another stumbling block for the Somali authors. On the other hand, I was unable to locate an artist who could complete the graphics for me. Finding someone to draw the illustration for me took about seven months! On the other side, I received some professional Somali arts, but I have yet to be given an opportunity. I’m not sure why, but it’s possible that I provided them with all of my information, including the fact that I’m a new author! I’m not sure. ”
Somalis are an oral society and mostly they don’t know the significance of reading and writing books for the community. Ahmed Abdullahu said: “Really a hard question that needs a study, but what I experienced so far is, the majority of Somalis don’t like reading or even don’t know the importance of reading. Moreover, when I first launched my first book, the majority of Somalis were not that interested in the importance of the book, but their first question was always the price. Though I was really selling it at a cheap price.”
Finally, Ahmed shared with me the most influential fiction story he wrote and what the book is about: “I really enjoy writing. I wrote short poems like; ‘I have no role model’, ‘I am a refugee with dreams’, ‘ME’, ‘ma huraan tayda’ and ‘maanta mise shaley’. So far, my upcoming book “Aragsan and her Family” is the most favorite story I have ever written. The story is about a young Somali nomad girl and her everyday life and her family.”
