LIFESTYLE
BOOKS
WHERE WOR(L)DS COLLIDE Meet Saudi wordsmith Ashraf Fagih
By Dalia Darweesh
Ashraf Fagih – masterful writer, prolific reader, and advocator of the compelling power of words – is a man of many hats. He’s notably known for being one of the first to introduce the Arabic readership to the ever imaginary, exciting and unexplored world of science fiction. He began his journey in authorship with a story written at the age 9. “It’s not something to brag about, because many kids do so at that age,” he told us. Yet, he had higher aspirations. By the age of 14, he was more interested in writing science fiction comics. Not so long after, in 1997 and by the age of 20, he published his first Arabic science fiction short stories collection, which was titled Ghosts Hunter.
Ashraf comes from a generation that was traditionally conservative, a generation that was mostly deprived of the leisures the younger generations have nowadays. It was somewhat limiting what people could and couldn’t do. Consequently, he wanted to reach out to the outside world through his books. “I add a local touch to my stories, like a female character fixing her hijab, for instance, just to hint 34 DESTINATION RIYADH MARCH 2018
COURTESY PHOTO/ALZAHRA AL DAWOOD
In 2000, he published his second collection of short stories, which was titled Longing for the Stars.