Karima Ahdad

Karima Ahdad is a Moroccan writer born in 1993. She has received several literary awards and is known for her bold style and honest writing, which has gained local and international recognition. Ahdad holds an MA in political communication and has worked in journalism and digital media in Morocco, Turkey, and Germany. She has also participated as a speaker at festivals and universities in Amsterdam, Brussels, and Istanbul, where she shared her insights on writing, identity, and contemporary Arabic literature. 

Her works have been translated into several languages, including English, French, Spanish, and Slovenian. Her novels shed light on topics such as gender, freedom, psychological conflict, and social injustice, often through the voices of strong and complex Moroccan female characters. Her novel Cactus Girls has won The Mohammed Zefzaf Prize for the Arabic novel in 2020. It was selected for the LEILA Project to promote Arabic literature in Europe. Translated excerpts were twice long listed for the John Dryden Literary Translation Prize. In 2024, her short story collection A Fine Thorn Digs Deep into My Foot came first place in the ArabLit & Komet Kashakeel Flash Fiction Prize.