Yemeni writer sells his book collection to help family survive

One of Yemen’s most popular writers is selling his collection of more than 8,000 books to raise money for rent and food for his family.

Mohammed Al Qaoud, 40, told The National he had built up his library over three decades but was being forced to sell it because he had not been paid in two years, as a result of the civil war that broke out in March 2015.

The author of 13 books of plays, poetry and short stories, Al Qaoud works as writer and editor at Al Thawra Corporation, Yemen’s largest stateowned printing and publishing house.

But the government, now in Aden, is unable to pay employees in Sanaa and other areas that are held by the Iranbacked Houthi rebels.

Large areas of the south have been liberated with the help of the Saudi-led coalition, which includes the UAE, but fighting continues in northern provinces and along the Red Sea coast.

Al Qaoud offered his collection for sale in a Facebook post on Saturday.

“No longer is the suffering bearable and neither are the dire circumstances we experience in our beloved country,” the father of four wrote. “Our children are enduring the dangers of facing extreme, harsh conditions and I found the answer to improving their lives would be through book selling.

“Therefore, I, Mohammed Al Qaoud, a bookworm, have decided to sell my rich collection of books, which comprises more than 8,000 knowledge and culture books, 20 per cent of which I keep in my residence and the rest in a private library outside.

“The money I plan to raise from selling my books would pay off my debts in addition to the house rent, after I have been warned to vacate in a few days if I don’t pay my outstanding one-year balance.

“I offer my sincere apologies to my family for posting this urgent plea. Never before have I ever imagined I would take such a painful action.”

Al Qaoud said many other citizens in the capital were struggling to survive, in the same situation as him.

“It is not just me,” he said. “Thousands of people in Sanaa are starving but they don’t dare to raise their voice and say, ‘Enough, stop the war, we want to survive’.

“We are dying behind a wall of silence. Nobody knows anything about our suffering. All that is going on around us is fierce war in which there is no place for us who fight with their pens,” said Al Qaoud, who heads the Sanaa chapter of the Yemeni Writers’ Union.

“Death is our fate in Sanaa, we don’t have any other choice, we can’t flee out because the Houthis will not let us to go, especially those who are known like us, writers and artists.”

Al Qaoud asked potential buyers of his books to call or email him.

But he said that some people had contacted him and urged him not sell, while others, mostly expatriates, had offered to help him financially so that he would not have to lose his extensive collection.

We are dying behind a wall of silence. Nobody knows anything about our suffering MOHAMMED AL QAOUD Writer and editor at Al Thawra Corporation, Sanaa