Abdallah Salim Bawazir

Who was Abdallah Salim Bawazir?

Abdallah Salim Bawazir was a renowned Yemeni novelist, short story writer, columnist and author. He was born in the town of Ghayl Bawazir in Hadhramaut province. He finished his formal schooling at the age of 16 and, due to his family's poverty, went off to Aden in search of work. He worked there for several years in various commercial stores before returning to Hadhramaut in 1962. However his stay in Al-Mukalla, the capital of Hadhramaut, proved short-lived and he went back to Aden in 1963, working as manager of a well-known commercial store for the next 33 years. In 1997, he tried one more time to settle down in Al-Mukalla but this attempt too proved unsuccessful. He went back to Aden for the last time to live out the final years of his life.

Bawazir was a prolific author and worked across a range of genres including short stories, novels, plays, children's books, and autobiography, not to mention shorter journalistic pieces for newspapers and magazines. As early as the 1950s, he was writing a column in Angham magazine. His first published short story entitled "Hikaya" came out in 1961 in the pages of Al-Taliyaa, an Al-Mukalla newspaper. Another of his stories for Al-Taliyaa entitled "The Devil's Tree" was eventually included in the national school curriculum. Al-Taliyaa also published his first play Al-Muhakama in 1962. His works heavily reflected the turbulent social and political scene of the 1960s.