Fatima Ahmed

Fatima Ahmed (born 1949, Phnom Penh) is an Italian-Somalian writer.

Biography

Fatima Ahmed was born in Cambodia, capital of Phnom Penh, in 1949. Her father was a Somali sailor and her mother was of Vietnamese ancestry. Because of the civil war in Cambodia, the family of Fatima Ahmed sought shelter in Somalia. While they were there, Ahmed was engaged in radio programs on including being a guest speaker at Radio Mogadishu. They later on migrated to Italy. In Italy, she was mainly engaged in cultural mediation and interpreting Vietnamese language. She later became a writer and cultural mediator who actively participated in meetings, seminars, conferences and cultural activities concerning post-colonial identity. Her wrtings was mostly about post-colonial experiences. Se has collaborated with the EKS & TRA association in literature works as well as dealing with migration. Her publications includes Il Ritorno, Shanti (for which she received a medal from the Presidency of the Italian Republic) and Gocce di ricordi, which also won of literary prizes. Aukuí was her first novel. She has three children with an Italian husband. They have lived in Lake Maggiore since 1989.