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Leila Aboulela

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Contact: laboulela@hotmail.com
Local authority: Aberdeen City
Languages: English
Author type: Writer
Leila Aboulela's headshot

Leila Aboulela's work is characterised by its distinctive exploration of identity, migration and Islamic spirituality. Highlighting the challenges facing Muslims in Europe and "telling the stories of flawed complex characters who struggle to make choices using Muslim logic", Aboulela's work explores significant political issues. Her personal faith and the move, in her mid-twenties, from Sudan to Scotland, are a major influence on her work.

Leila Aboulela's works have been included in cultural educational programs supported by the British Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities in the US. One of her short stories 'Something Old, Something New', about a young Scottish man from Edinburgh who visits his fiancée's family in Sudan, is included in the GCSE English Literature syllabus. (Photo credit: Gary Doak)

Websites featuring the author

Local authorities can visit

Aberdeen City; Aberdeenshire; Angus; Argyll and Bute; Clackmannanshire; Dumfries and Galloway; Dundee; East Ayrshire; East Dunbartonshire; East Lothian; East Renfrewshire; Edinburgh City; Falkirk; Fife; Glasgow City; Highland; Inverclyde; Midlothian; Moray; Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles); North Ayrshire; North Lanarkshire; Orkney Islands; Perth and Kinross; Renfrewshire; Scottish Borders; Shetland; South Ayrshire; South Lanarkshire; Stirling; West Dunbartonshire; West Lothian

Events can deliver

Mentoring; Panel event; Reading; Talk; Workshop

Audience can work with

English as an additional language (EAL)

Topics of work

Characters of colour & BAME characters; Class & society; Contemporary fiction; Discrimination & Prejudice; Emigration & immigration; Fairy tales, folklore & mythology; Friendship; Gender equality; Health including mental health & wellbeing; Historical fiction; Loneliness & isolation; Love & romance; Politics; Religion & Beliefs

Age groups published for

Adults

Age groups can work with

15-18; Adults

Audience size

0-10; 11-30; 31-100; 100-500; 500+

Get involved

Find out how to get involved in our Live Literature programme.

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