With Flash Fiction Finalist Loqman Hussain

For our forthcoming bilingual publication — which will feature the fifteen short stories shortlisted for the 2024 Arabic Flash Fiction Prize, co-produced by ArabLit and Komet Kashakeel — we made up our own sort of Proust questionnaire for the authors. In it, we’ve asked each of them the same 15 questions you’ll find below.

Excerpts from their answers will appear in the print collection, and they will also run in fuller versions online at ArabLit.

Egyptian writer Loqman Hussain was a finalist for the 2024 prize with his story “He Said: I’ll Kill You” (قال: «لأقتلنَّك»). This project is funded by the British Council’s Beyond Literature Borders programme corun by Speaking Volumes Live Literature Productions.

Tell us about a short-story author whose work you particularly admire.

Loqman Hussain: Anton Chekhov. Dr. Youssef Idris.

If you were to start a literary prize, what would it be for, how would it be judged, and what would people win?

It would be for the short story; contemporary and innovative, with a creative vision, surprising and condensed.

They would win all that I can give them.

 Tell us about an opening sentence you find particularly compelling, in any work of fiction.

Loqman Hussain: Dr. Nawal El Saadawi’s dedication in the book I Learned Love, where she wrote: “The more closely I look at the problems of our lives, the more convinced I become that we need more love and mercy….”

What author, living or dead,  would you like to have on WhatsApp?  

Loqman Hussain: George Orwell.

What advice on writing—that you were told, or perhaps read somewhere—do you find most useless, stupid, or ridiculous?

Loqman Hussain: There is no useless advice.

What advice on writing—that you were told or perhaps read somewhere—have you found most useful and nourishing?

Loqman Hussain: Ernest Hemingway said, “When I write characters, I try to write them as if I were seeing them, living with them, understanding their motivations so that they seem real.”

When did you start writing? Do you remember anything about the first piece you ever wrote, or the place that you wrote it?

Loqman Hussain: In high school, at 18 years old. It was a short story about Palestine called “A Mother’s Tragedy.”

Tell us about one of the main places where you write. Is it at a desk, on a couch, in bed? At a coffeeshop? Secretly, while at work?

Loqman Hussain: At a desk, on the sofa, at a cafe.

 What is one poem you have memorized that you sometimes recite to yourself?

Loqman Hussain: The poem “نهج البردة” by Al-Busiri.

If this short story of yours was adapted into a film, who would you like to act in it? Do you have any advice for the director, videographer, or costume designer?

Loqman Hussain: I don’t interfere in the business of specialists.

 If you were asked to design a bookshop near your home, what would you make sure it had? Comfortable chairs? A hidden nook for reading? Coffee and tea? Something else?

Loqman Hussain: All of the above, plus a visitor survey form.

If you were going to write using a pen name or pseudonym, what would it be?

Loqman Hussain: I’d prefer not to.

Where do you find new stories that you enjoy reading? Do you find them in magazines, online, from particular publishers? How do you discover new writing?

Loqman Hussain: All this, plus going to book fairs and bookshops.

What is your favorite under-appreciated short-story collection?

Loqman Hussain: The short-story collections of Dr. Ahmed Khaled Tawfik.

Did you have a favorite book, story, or poem as a child or teen? What has its impact on you been?

Loqman Hussain: The Days, by Dr. Taha Hussein. It was the first thing I read.

If you could change one thing about how publishing works, what would it be?

Loqman Hussain: Pay more attention to children’s books.

Loqman Mohamed Hussain, born in Cairo in 1961, writes novels, plays, short stories and very short stories. He was shortlisted for the State Prize for Children’s Literature (Eighth Session, Short Story and Novel category). His young adult novel, Ant Valley was published by Badael Publishing House in 2021, Cairo. His collection of flash fiction, Ghurba, featuring around 300 short stories, was published by Daad Publishing House in 2019, Cairo. He has also contributed to four other collections of flash fiction. Loqman has won several literary awards through competitions on social media across the Arab world and actively supports publishing works by young authors. He previously served as a consultant for Al-Qisa newspaper.