IN a scruffy hall off the dusty main thoroughfare of Somaliland's capital, Nuruddin Farah, a Somalia-born novelist, is berating the audience at the Hargeisa International Book Fair over what he sees as the inherent cruelty of Somali society. Somali history, he says, "is a consequence of this cruelty...we can never be a democratic society until we change our behaviour towards those we consider lesser."
Despite being born in the south of Somalia and living in Cape Town Mr Farah, probably the most well-known Somali writer, feels quite at home in the internationally-unrecognised state in Somalia's north: "I have come to start a debate with my community". Debate permeated the fair in August and is now in its seventh year. Jama Muse Jama, formerly an Italy-based academic and businessman and now a Hargeisa-based publisher founded the fair in 2008 as a means to allow Somalilanders "to regain their public space... to sit down and simply debate".
Alongside authors including Nadifa Mohammed, a much-lauded young British-based author born in Hargeisa, topics including the preservation of Somali heritage, mother and infant...Continue reading
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