A founding member of Somali P.E.N. Centre (an affiliate member of International P.E.N. World Association of Writers), and its vice-president until 2010, Said Jama Hussein is a well known Somali scholar who is actively engaged in the promotion of the Somali language and its literature.
An essayist and short-story writer, his first collection of short stories, entitled Shufbeel was published in book form by Ponte Invisibile, Pisa, Italy in 2010. A second collection of essays and short stories, Safar Aan Jaho Lahayn (A Flight into the Unknown) was published by Ponte Invisibile in 2013. Many of his stories have appeared in various Somali journals published in London; some have been adapted and broadcast on the Somali section of BBC World Service Radio. Said Jama has also has translated some of Anton Chekhov’s short stories into Somali which were published in book form by Ponte Invisibile in 2011 .
Said Jama is a regular contributor to the two highly popular cultural events, London’s Somali Week Festival and the Hargeysa International Book Fair respectively. He is fluent in English, Arabic and Somali and currently heads the translation section of the Redsea-online Cultural Foundation.
Said Jama is married and lives with his family in London.
