Fifty Years O Short Story

Yemenat

By Khaled Al-Yousef

Translated by Mohammed Al-Mekhlafi

When I wrote my story The Illusion of Rain in late 1397 AH/1977, it was published the following year, in 1398 AH/1978, in a school periodical and later in several literary publications and spaces. I never imagined that it would lead to the stories that followed, or that it would be the beginning of such a long journey, one that would branch out into many other paths.

Perhaps I have written more than one hundred and fifty short stories over these five decades.

Alongside writing short stories, I was also on another journey: trying to give the short story a stronger place and helping it grow, remain active, and continue to develop.

This interest began when I was working as an editor at the school magazine Alam al-Kutub (The World of Books) toward the end of 1400 AH/1980. I was asked, along with others, to help prepare a special issue about the short story in Saudi Arabia. It was an early stage in my own journey, and my interest continued through the magazine’s later issues.

Later, my teacher, Hamad Al-Qadhi, asked me to work with him at Al-Majalla Al-Arabiyah, conducting interviews and conversations with a number of Saudi women writers. I had already done similar work through the literary and cultural pages of Al-Riyadh newspaper. These experiences brought me closer to the pioneers of the Saudi short story and novel, and I came to know them all.

My involvement continued through our daily newspapers and their weekly literary supplements. Later, when I became responsible for the literary supplement and pages at Al-Masa’iya newspaper, I tried to give the short story the place it deserved. Then, in 1407 AH/1987, I was appointed by the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts to be