An
anonymous Iraqi woman has become the first blog author to be in the running for a big literary prize for a book published between hard covers.
Baghdad Burning, by a 26-year-old author who has won an international readership under the pen name Riverbend, is longlisted for the ?30,000 Samuel Johnson award. In the list, announced today, she is up against 18 other books including Alan Bennett's latest bestseller, histories of the cold war and the great wall of China, and a
biography of the 19th-century cookbook author Mrs Beeton. The Guardian carried an
extract from Riverbend's title last summer.
The small literary
publisher Marion Boyars brought out Baghdad Burning last year, classifying it under
biography and
memoir. The publishing house says it knows Riverbend's
identity but respects her wish to remain
anonymous.
It has already come third in the Lettre Ulysses prize for Reportage,
winning ?14,000, and was shortlisted for an Index on Censorship freedom of expression award.
Riverbend began the blog with the words: "I'm female, Iraqi and 24. I survived the war.
That's all you need to know. It's all that matters these days anyway."
University-educated Riverbend worked as a computer programmer before the
invasion which began on March 20, 2003.
She lost her job, she told her readers, when it became too dangerous for Iraqi women to travel to work alone.
伊拉克妇女战地博客角逐3万英镑英国文学奖
近日,一位笔名为"河湾"的伊拉克妇女在博客上撰写的文章,入围英国著名的塞缪尔-约翰逊文学奖提名。这位伊拉克女性是迄今入选该奖项的首位博客作者。
据《卫报》3月27日报道,这位以"河湾"(Riverbend)为笔名的26岁网络博客作家的读者已经遍及全世界。她撰写的文章《燃烧的巴格达》已入选为奖金3万英镑的塞缪尔·约翰逊文学奖候选作品。在27日宣布的候选作品名单上,这位伊拉克女性的博客文章将与包括英国著名作家艾伦·班尼特最新畅销书《未透露的故事》等其它18部作品一起角逐该奖。
去年,英国一家名为马里恩-博亚尔斯小型出版社开始出版"河湾"的《燃烧的巴格达》,并将它归类在传记和回忆录图书中。这家出版社指出,他们知道"河湾"的真实背景,但尊重她保持匿名的选择。报道说,《燃烧的巴格达》已在柏林《Lettre》杂志举办的著名的"尤利西斯"报告文学大奖中荣获3等奖,并获奖金1.4万英镑。此外,它还入选为英国主张新闻自由的组织--"审查制度索引"的自由言论奖候选作品。
"河湾"在她的博客的开头这样写到:"我是女性,在伊拉克,24岁。我在战争中幸存。这是你需要知道的全部内容。无论如何,这都是目前最重要的事情。"受过大学教育的"河湾"在2003年3月20日美军入侵伊拉克前曾是一名电脑程序师。她在博客中说,她失去了工作,因为那时伊拉克妇女单独出门上班已经是很危险的事情。
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