Najwa Bin Shatwan is a Libyan academic and novelist, author of Waber Al Ahssina ('The Horses’ Hair'); Madmum Burtuqali ('Orange Content'); and Zareeb Al-Abeed ('The Slave Yards'), in addition to collections of short stories, plays and contributions to anthologies. She was chosen as one of the 39 best Arab authors under the age of 40 by Hay Festival's Beirut 39 project. Zareeb Al-Abeed was shortlisted for the 2017 International Award for Arabic Fiction. Her story 'The Sharp Bend at Al-Bakur' won the ArabLit magazine Story Prize 2019. Her short story collection Catalogue of a Private Life won the English PEN Translates award in 2019.

In conversation with Parween Habib.