AustLit logo

AustLit

Michael Mohammed Ahmad Michael Mohammed Ahmad i(A118218 works by)
Gender: Male
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

BiographyHistory

Writer, editor, and community arts worker in Western Sydney.

He has been the writing coordinator at Bankstown Youth Development Service and editor of Westside. He is both founder and director of Sweatshop, a literacy movement based in Western Sydney, which provides training and employment in creative and critical writing initiatives for people from culturally and liguistically diverse backgrounds. His work in community cultural development won him the Australia Council Kirk Robson Award in 2012. An account of Ahmad's work with Sweatshop was published by Omar J. Sakr in 'Literary Collective Director Michael Mohammed Ahmad'.

His debut novel, The Tribe, was published in 2014, and attempted to step beyond limited and simplistic images of Arab-Australian Muslims enforced by media reports. The novel, which Ahmad notes draws from traditional Arab oral storytelling, was adapted into a play for a single performer in 2015.

In 2017, Mohammed received a Doctorate of Creative Arts, Western Sydney University. His second novel, The Lebs, was published in February 2018.

Exhibitions

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2019 recipient Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships Literature Arts Projects For Individuals and Groups $49,920
2016 recipient Australia Council Grants, Awards and Fellowships Australia Council Literature Board Grants Literature Arts Projects For Individuals and Groups $39,000.00
2012 recipient Kirk Robson Award

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon The Other Half of You Sydney : Hachette Australia , 2021 21519147 2021 single work novel

''I only ever asked you for one thing,' my father said, a quiver in his voice. 'Just this one thing.' It was as though I had smashed the Ten Commandments.
'Oh father,' I cried in Arabic, grovelling at his ankles while my mother and siblings looked on. 'The one thing you ask of me - is everything.'

'Bani Adam has known all his life what was expected of him. To marry the right kind of girl. To make the House of Adam proud.

'But Bani wanted more than this - he wanted to make his own choices. Being the first in his Australian Muslim family to go to university, he could see a different way.

'Years later, Bani will write his story to his son, Kahlil. Telling him of the choices that were made on his behalf and those that he made for himself. Of the hurt he caused and the heartache he carries. Of the mistakes he made and the lessons he learned.

'In this moving and timely novel, Michael Mohammed Ahmad balances the complexities of modern love with the demands of family, tradition and faith. The Other Half of You is the powerful, insightful and unforgettable new novel from the Miles Franklin shortlisted author of The Lebs.' (Publication summary)

2022 highly commended Victorian Premier's Literary Awards The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction
y separately published work icon After Australia South Melbourne : Affirm Press , 2020 18716926 2020 anthology short story

'Climate catastrophe, police brutality, white genocide, totalitarian rule and the erasure of black history provide the backdrop for stories of love, courage and hope. In this unflinching new anthology, eleven of Australia’s most daring writers of colour provide a glimpse of Australia in the year 2050. Edited by Michael Mohammed Ahmad, awardwinning author of The Lebs. Featuring Ambelin Kwaymullina, Claire G. Coleman, Omar Sakr, Future D. Fidel, Karen Wyld, Sarah Ross, Zoya Patel, Michelle Law and Hannah Donnelly. Published in partnership with Diversity Arts Australia and Sweatshop Literacy Movement.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2020 finalist Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction Anthology Division
2021 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Multicultural NSW
2021 longlisted APA Book Design Awards Best Designed Literary Fiction Book designed by Josh Durham, Design by Committee
y separately published work icon The Big Black Thing : Chapter 2 Milperra : Sweatshop , 2018 15304027 2018 anthology poetry prose

'The Big Black Thing: Chapter. 2 is the second issue in a new series of prose and poetry by emerging and established writers from Indigenous, migrant and refugee backgrounds.'  (Publication summary)

2019 shortlisted Mascara Avant-garde Awards Anthology
Last amended 9 Oct 2019 11:03:58
Other mentions of "" in AustLit:
    X