Talk:Leila Aboulela

Recommendation for section addition

A section called influences could be helpful because then you could go into detail about the way her upbringing, the countries she's lived in, religion, immigrant experiences, and identity shapes her writing. Then you could add the authors she cites as influences and have it flow better that way.Oiw222 (talk) 13:54, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: WRIT 015- Writing for Others

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 13 January 2022 and 14 May 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Oiw222 (article contribs).

Bibliography for the article

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Oiw222/Leila_Aboulela/Bibliography

- Bachmann, Anna-Theresa. “Interview with Sudanese-Egyptian Writer Leila Aboulela: The Challenge of Identity in a Non-Monochrome World - Qantara.De.” Qantara.de - Dialogue with the Islamic World, 18 Nov. 2020, https://en.qantara.de/content/interview-with-sudanese-egyptian-writer-leila-aboulela-the-challenge-of-identity-in-a-non. In this interview, Aboulela speaks about her writing process and what influenced her to write, as well as the inspiration behind her characters and stories. She also discusses major themes in her writing. The information in this interview will help me in building the personal life and literary influences section of the Wikipedia article.

- Akbar, Arifa. “Elsewhere, Home by Leila Aboulela – Review.” The Observer, 9 July 2018. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jul/09/elsewhere-home-leila-aboulela-review. This article is a review of Aboulela’s collection of short stories ‘Elsewhere, Home’. The review praises the short stories and provides brief overviews of the plot and themes of each story as well as the reviewer’s opinion of Aboulela’s storytelling. I will use the information provided in this article to contribute to the description of Aboulela’s literary works in the Literary Career section and will use the review to populate the critical reception section.

- Olatoun, Gabi Williams. “BORDERS GLOBAL INTERVIEW WITH LEILA ABOULELA.” 2018, p. 13. https://bordersliteratureonline.net/uploads/Interview%20with%20Leila%20Aboulela.pdf In this interview, Aboulela is asked a series of personal questions and asked to draw parallels between her life and the life of her characters. Aboulela discusses how her life is similar to and different from her characters and speaks about her relationship with identity and her upbringing in detail. I will use the information in this interview to populate the Early Life and Education section as well as the Personal Life section.

- Parsinnen, Keija. “Writing as Spiritual Offering: A Conversation with Leila Aboulela, by Keija Parssinen.” World Literature Today, 10 Dec. 2019, https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2020/winter/writing-spiritual-offering-conversation-leila-aboulela-keija-parssinen. In this interview, Aboulela is asked to describe what drew her to writing, as well as the way her faith, and immigration story influence her writing. The interviewer inquires about the inspiration behind many of Aboulela’s stories and novels throughout the interview. The information in this article will help me to build the Literary Influences and Career section since Aboulela is explicit about the authors who she cites as influences and the specific ways in which they have influenced her writing. Additionally, she is also explicit about events in her personal life that influenced her writing.

- Leila Aboulela | Minaret - Reviews | The Kindness of Enemies | Lyrics Alley | The Translator | Coloured Lights | Leila Aboulela. http://www.leila-aboulela.com/books/minaret/reviews/. Accessed 10 Apr. 2022. This blog post features several reviews from Aboulela’s published works. They are all complimentary which is why I will use these to add in addition to other reviews to populate the critical reception. It is useful because it provides the general consensus regarding Aboulela’s work and highlights notable observations made by the reviewers.

- Chambers, Claire. “An Interview with Leila Aboulela.” Contemporary Women’s Writing, vol. 3, no. 1, June 2009, pp. 86–102. Silverchair, https://doi.org/10.1093/cww/vpp003. In this interview, Chambers provides biographical information on Aboulela as well as a summary of the critical reception and academic use of her works. I can use this information to add to the critical reception and describe the legacy of Aboulela’s works. The information in this article will also help in building the biographical information for the lead and Early/Personal Life sections.

- Clifford, Lisa. “A Conversation with Leila Aboulela.” Women in Islam, https://www.womeninislamjournal.com/articles/2019/2/12/zdjullcykf6xgkmsb5cs5p95b0n1rh. Accessed 10 Apr. 2022. This interview discusses Aboulela’s novels and personal life as well as the ways her environment influences her writings. Aboulela is asked about her character and her relationship with Sudan, the UK, and Islam. The information in this article will help me in adding to the Early Life/Education and Personal Life sections as well as the Literary Influences and Career section since it provides more insight into her writing and the way her faith informs it.

- Leila Aboulela - Calvin Center for Faith & Writing. 2012, https://ccfw.calvin.edu/speakers/leila-aboulela/ Accessed 10 Apr. 2022. This article provides a brief overview of Aboulela’s work. I will use this source to cite the information in the Lead Section about Aboulela’s novels, awards, and translations. - Leila Aboulela - Literature. https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/leila-aboulela. Accessed 11 Apr. 2022. This source features Aboulela’s short biography, Bibliography, and lists her Awards. I will use this source to cite the information in the Bibliography and Awards section of the Wikipedia article.

- Khakpour, Porochista. “Stories of the Muslim Immigrant Experience, From a Sudanese Writer Now Living in Scotland.” The New York Times, 11 Mar. 2019. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/11/books/review/leila-aboulela-elsewere-home.html. This article is a review of Aboulela’s short story collection Elsewhere, Home. The article is very flattering of Aboulela’s work and provides information regarding Aboulela’s status in the literary world and the role she holds in fiction writing. I will use this article to contribute to the critical reception section. Oiw222 (talk) 15:34, 12 April 2022 (UTC)

Proposed Edits to the Article

Hello, I am planning on making some edits to the article. Overall, I will make sure that the article is well cited. The information present now is very useful, however, some of it is not cited correctly so I will make sure to fix that. I will restructure some of the sections so that the information is more succinct and follows the Wikipedia guidelines more closely. Most of the restructuring will only be moving around some information so that it is easier to follow under the correct section/heading. I will also be separating the Personal Life section into both a Personal Life and Early Life and Education section. There is a lot of information on Leila Aboulela so the majority of the work I hope to do is to add more information about the author and her works and to elaborate on the information already present. Oiw222 (talk) 15:52, 12 April 2022 (UTC)