ICORN Residency

Monem Mahjoub (born 1963 in Surman) is a respected and award-winning Libyan columnist, linguist, philosopher, critic and poet. He earned his MA in philosophy and PhD in humanities from Morocco’s Hassan University. He has written more than 25 books on philosophy, linguistics, history and politics. Mahjoub has also published three volumes of poetry: “The Book of Illusion”, ”Recital” and “Whenever Wine Beams”. Between 1998 and 2016, he published more than 45 academic papers and articles in Arabic academic journals. He is referred to in the academic community as the ‘last Sumerian’ due to the theory he propounds that Arabic and Afro-Asiatic languages have their roots in Sumerian.

Mahjoub is the co-founder of the Tanit publishing house, founded in 1995. He has also held important positions in the Arab cultural world. He was an advisor to International Affairs magazine, editor-in-chief of Fadaat (2002-2010) and The Independent (2015-2016), and coordinator of the Afro-Asian Linguistics Forum (2005-2010). His book “The Sumerian Roots of Arabic and Afro-Asian Languages” earned him the Libyan Government Award and the Accolade of the Country, for which he was nominated by the Association for Constitutional Thought.