Ahmed Fagih
Ahmed Fagih was born in 1942 in Mizda, Libya. It was a small oasis town south of Tripoli. He entered school there. Fagih studied until his teenage years. Then he migrated to Tripoli in 1957. He pursued higher studies. He began his writing career there. Fagih travelled in 1962 to Egypt to study journalism. He had help of a UNESCO sponsorship program. He returned later to Tripoli to work as a journalist. In 1965 he published his first collection of short stories titled There Is No Water in the Sea (Arabic: البحر لا ماء فيه) which won him the highest award sponsored by the Royal Commission of Fine Arts in Libya. In the late 1960s he travelled to London. He studied drama and theatre until 1972. After returning from Britain he was appointed the director of the National Institute of Music and Drama. In 1972 Fagih became the editor of the influential cultural and literary newspaper The Cultural Weekly (Arabic: الاسبوع الثقافي al-Usbūʻ al-thaqāfi) . It featured many new Libyan writers. During this period he founded The New Theatre play and drama group.