Somalian writer Nuruddin Farah is the author of numerous novels, including From A Crooked Rib, Links, and his Blood in the Sun trilogy:  Maps, Gifts, and Secrets.  He is also the author of essays, short stories, plays and film scripts, and he has translated children’s stories from Arabic, Italian, French, and English into Somali.   A central theme of Farah’s work is women’s liberation in postcolonial Somaliland, which he sees as a precondition for political and individual freedom.  Named the 1998 laureate of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, “widely regarded as the most prestigious international literary award after the Nobel,” he now lives in Cape Town,  South Africa.