Ubah Ali Farah is a Somali Italian poet, novelist, playwright and librettist. She grew up in Mogadishu but fled to Europe at the outbreak of the civil war. She is the author of three novels: Little Mother (Madre piccola, Frassinelli, 2007) and Commander of the river (Il comandante del fiume, 66thand2nd, 2014) -– both published in English by Indiana University Press as part of the Global African Voices series – and Stations of the Moon (Le stazioni della luna, 66thand2nd, 2021). She also wrote the ekphrasis La danza dell’orice (Juxta Press, 2020) and the collection of short stories and poems The Phoenix’s Ashes (Le ceneri della fenice, Hopefulmonster, 2022). She holds a Ph.D. in African Studies (Università L’Orientale Napoli) and is the recipient of the Lingua Madre and Vittorini Prizes.
