Books: Libya

Over the years I have accumulated quite a lot of books and material related to Libya. My collection is mostly in English, but there are a few titles in Italian and some in English/Arabic. 

I decided to create this page so that others who share my interest in Libya will be able to find books that they might find interesting. I have added the cover, front and back, from most of the books with a short description. I haven't written any reviews or given any ratings. I will leave the comment section open for anyone that would like to share information or comments. 

Friends have given me books, I have found them in bookshops, and of course many books can be found on Amazon, but AbeBooks has a good selection of used books, magazines, journals, maps, etc. including many books that are no longer in print. 

I have only added my paperback and hard cover books and magazine/journals here so far. At a later date, I will also add the eBooks that I have collected.  This is an ongoing list that will be added to and amended from time to time. It's not very well organized - I will get to that eventually!

** Click on the images for a larger view **

Tripoli Portrait of a City

By Philip Ward

Published 1969

ISBN: 9780902675063

This was the first detailed guide in any language to the city of Tripoli. The information was compiled by Philip Ward, an oil company librarian that lived in Libya for 6 years. The book is illustrated with engravings, with old and modern photographs to show Tripoli as it was at that time. He gives a snapshot of the city as it was in the late 1960s.

Wheels Across the Desert - Exploration of the Libyan Desert by Motorcar 1916 - 1942

By Andrew Gouldie

Published 2008

ISBN 978-1-900971-07-2

The author is a professor of Geography at Oxford University and an Honorary Secretary and Vice President of the Royal Geographical Society. His research interests include the geomorphology of deserts, climatic change, environmental archaeology, and the impact of humans on the environment. This book details expeditions that took place in Libya from 1916 to 1942. Includes many interesting and informative photographs and maps.

East From Tunis

By Richard Carrington

Published 1957

Published by Darf 2005

ISBN 1850779880

ASIN B0000CJS01

This book tells the story of an overland journey from Tunis to Egypt along the northern coast of the African continent. The book includes maps and photographs of the author's journey. An interesting look at life and places in Libya during the 1950s.

Touring Libya - The Western Provinces

By Philip Ward

Published 1967

ISBN 978-0571086672

The author, Philip Ward, was the Coordinator of Library Services and the Director of the Libyan Research Library of Oasis Oil Company of Libya in Tripoli from 1963 to 1971. He has written extensively about Libya. He writes extensively over a wide range of genres: novels, plays/screenplays, humor and satire, and travel and exploration books of other countries where he has spent time. This work covers the Western Provinces. There are other books in the series coving different parts of Libya. Includes photos and maps.

Touring Libya - The Southern Provinces

By Philip Ward

Published 1968

ISBN 978-0571087037

The author, Philip Ward, was the Coordinator of Library Services and the Director of the Libyan Research Library of Oasis Oil Company of Libya in Tripoli from 1963 to 1971. He has written extensively about Libya. He writes extensively over a wide range of genres: novels, plays/screenplays, humor and satire, and travel and exploration books of other countries where he has spent time. This work covers the Southern Provinces. There are other books in the series coving different parts of Libya. Includes photos and maps.

  

The Antiquities of Tripolitania - An archaeological and historic guide to the pre-Islamic 

By Denys Eyre Lankester Haynes

Published 1956

ASIN B00071VD81

This work was published by the Antiquities Department of Tripolitania, Libya. It a useful and informative guide to Pre-Islamic Tripoli, containing extensive maps, diagrams, and illustrations. The author, Denys Haynes, was an English classical scholar, archaeologist, and museum curator, who specialized in the full range of classical archaeology. He was Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum between 1956 and 1976. He was additionally Geddes–Harrower Professor of Greek Art and Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen from 1972 to 1973, and, in retirement, visitor to the Ashmolean Museum from 1979 to 1987.

In either 1943 or 1945, Haynes was appointed Antiquities Officer for Libya and was based in Tripoli. His duties were to record and preserve the sites of ancient Libya: this resulted in the publication of "Ancient Tripolitania" in 1946, a guidebook aimed "primarily for the military tourist". It was later revised and expanded to target a wider audience and published as "Antiquities of Tripolitania" ten years later.  He also served as Chairman of the Society for Libyan Studies from 1973 to 1975. 

Libya A "Spy" Guide

By International Business Publications, USA

Published 2001

ISBN 0-7397-8535-4

Aimed at the business world, this book is a Libya guide suitable for anyone traveling to Libya. The book claims to be updated annually, but the most recent edition that I could find in 2009 (my copy is 2001). The website listed on the book is no longer working, but the publisher is listed on biblio.com.

The Burning Shores - Inside the Battle for the New Libya

By Frederic Wehrey

Published 2018

ISBN978-0-374-27824-3

A account of Libya's February 17 Revolution, and Civil War. The author, Frederic Wehrey,  is an Oxford scholar, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and writer that focuses on events in the Middle East.

Wind, Sand and Stars

By Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Published 1939

ISBN 978-015-602749-6

Wind, Sand and Stars is a collection of anecdotes and reminiscences about flying, the universe, politics, the Spanish Civil War, the North African desert, Tierra del Fuego, and the heroism and nobility of both ordinary people and fellow pilots. The book includes Saint-Exupéry’s journalistic reportage from Moscow; accounts of his surviving a crash in the Libyan desert and of his subsequent rescue by Bedouins; and the story of the heroic survival of a pilot whose plane crashed in the Andes Mountains in winter. The author is also the writer of "The Little Prince".

Jewish Life in Muslim Libya - Rivals & Relatives

By Harvey E. Goldberg

Published 1990

ISBN 0-226-30092-7

This book describes in detail the cultural and religious aspect of the daily lives of Muslim and Jewish communities in Libya. It looks at the historical aspects of these communities and shows how their culture and traditions are intertwined.

Ornamental Plants of Libya

By A. El-Gadi, M. A. Siddiqi

Paintings by M. Y. Saleem

Published 1988

ASIN : B0036Y6SAS

Bilingual - English and Arabic. This large coffee table book contains 82 lovely colour plates painted by M.Y. Saleem. A short useful account of 82 ornamental plants commonly planted in the gardens and public parks of Libya. Succulents like cacti, stonewort, euphorbias, and other plants, such as money plants, ferns, asparagi, and others, are also cultivated for indoor decoration by many people, hoteliers, and other organizations.

Drawings from Libya

By Mohammed Hijji

Published 1984 and 2000

ASIN : B002XY5JZ2

Mohammed Hijji is an Egyptian painter born in 1940. He worked as an illustrator, editor and technical director in several magazines, publishing houses and international organizations. He worked in Libya from 1973 to 1977 as a newspaper artist and editor. It was during this time that he composed Drawings from Libya.

Libyan Jewellery: A Journey Through Symbols

By: Elena Schenone Alberini

Photographs by Araldo De Luca

Published 1998

ASIN : B005UHUXU0

This is the only book published on Libyan Jewelry that contains detailed, authoritative descriptions of traditional jewelry and the history of silversmithing in Libya. The coffee table book is beautifully illustrated in colour throughout with historical pictures of women wearing the jewelry as well as close-up pictures of the jewelry itself. There is one page referencing Libyan silver marks. 

The author, Elena Schenone Alberini was born in Genova in 1967. She studied Political Science in Rome and after graduation became interested in ethnology, particularly in Libya where she lived from 1994 to 1998. She was a member of the Archeological Mission of the Third University in Rome where she contributed to the catalogue of the Leptis Magna Museum with regard to traditional jewelry and ethnic housewares.

This book is no longer in print, very few copies exist. It was published by Lasmo, a British oil and gas exploration and production firm that was acquired by Eni Gas in 2001.

Book 1: Libya: The Daydream

Published 2005

General People's Committee for Tourism

Series of five photo books covering various aspects of Libya and Libyan culture.

Book 2: Libya: Talking Stones

Published 2005

General People's Committee for Tourism

Series of five photo books covering different aspects of Libya and Libyan culture.

Book 3: Libya: Pearls in the Desert

Published 2005

General People's Committee for Tourism

Series of five photo books covering different aspects of Libya and Libyan culture.

Book 4: Libya: Born Under the Sun

Published 2005

General People's Committee for Tourism

Series of five photo books covering different aspects of Libya and Libyan culture.

Book 5: Libya: Colors' Symphony

Published 2005

General People's Committee for Tourism

Series of five photo books covering different aspects of Libya and Libyan culture.

The Land and People of Libya

By Paul W. Copeland

Published 1967

ISBN 978-0397312030

An overview of Libya covering its history, customs, culture, and people. From the Portraits of the Nations Series. The book has many photographs and a map. 

North African Powder Keg

By Edmund Stevens

Published 1955

ASIN B0007E2TLW

An objective look at the region of North Africa during the 1940s to the first half of the 1950s by a Foreign Correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. 

Libya's Displacement Crisis - Uprooted by Revolution and Civil War

By Megan Bradley, Ibrahim Fraihat and Houda Mzioudet

Published 2016

ISBN 978-1-62616-329-4

This collaborative study covers the fall of the dictatorship of Ghaddafi and the growing crisis of the internally displaced in post-Ghaddafi Libya. Solutions and recommendations to this crisis are part of this study.

Translating Libya - In Search of the Libyan Short Story

By Ethan Chorin

Published 2015

ISBN 9781850772842

Ethan Chorin served from 2004-6 as the US Commercial/Economic Attaché in Libya. His book is a compilation of short stories from sixteen Libyan writers from the east, west and south of Libya.

The Conscript - A novel of Libya's Anticolonial War

By Gebreyesus Hailu

Translated from Tigrinya by Ghirmai Negash

First Published 1927 (in Tigrinia) 

Published in English 2013

ISBN 978-0-8214-2023-2

The Conscript is a novel that depicts experiences of the Eritrean ascari, soldiers conscripted to fight in Libya by the Italian colonial army against the nationalist Libyan forces fighting for their freedom from Italy’s colonial rule. The author paints a devastating portrait of Italian colonialism. Some of the most poignant passages of the novel include the awakening of the novel’s hero, Tuquabo, to his ironic predicament of being both under colonial rule and the instrument of suppressing the colonized Libyans.

The novel’s remarkable descriptions of the battlefield awe the reader with mesmerizing images, both disturbing and tender, of the Libyan landscape—with its vast desert sands, oases, horsemen, foot soldiers, and the brutalities of war—uncannily recalled in the satellite images that were brought to the homes of millions of viewers around the globe in 2011, during the country’s uprising against its former leader, Colonel Gaddafi. 

Labyrinth - Libya Odyssey

By David Bloom

Published 2005

ISBN 0-595-36369-5

This novel is set in the backdrop of Libya's oil fields. A reporter accepts an assignment to Libya to write a story about the Standard Oil Company in Libya. While there he becomes involved in Libya's history and stumbles upon an ancient mystery. Searching for the answer leads him on quite an adventure.

The author, David Bloom worked for twenty-five years in the oil industry. Some of his time was spent working in Libya.

Sweet Crude - Taming the Sands of Libya

By V.C.Thomas

Published 2013

ISBN 978-1-60494-619-2

This novel is strangely listed online as having two different authors depending on where you look. My book is by V.C. Thomas, but another book online lists the author as Carter Dreyfus. Both give the same description, have the same cover apart from the author's name and with two different publishing years. It's a story about the adventures of a Texas oilman working in Libya. 

Buried in my Heart - A story of love in war-torn Libya

By Sara Leptis

Published 2020

ISBN: 978-1-86151-743-2

This is the story of a young Libyan woman (the author is using a pseudonym), who has spent much of her life in England, but has returned to Libya after graduation. It's not clear whether this is a work of fact or fiction, or maybe just stretching the truth a bit (or maybe a lot). This love story takes place in Libya in the turmoil of the Arab Spring, revolution, and civil war. 

Biography and Memoirs

Chameleon in my Garden

By Nita Nicholson

Published 2014

ISBN: 978-184963-675-9

Her Libyan husband imprisoned by the Ghaddafi regime; Nita Nicholson taught at the university in Benghazi. Later, she studied Applied Linguistics at Birkbeck College London whilst campaigning for her husband's release. Reflecting on the long and dark years of state killings and disappearances, she turned to writing. When in 2011 the Libyan 'street' spoke out despite its fear of retribution, she was spurred on to conclude and share her first novel on the social impact of state terror.

Libya. A Love Lived, A Life Betrayed: 9/36

By: Susan Sandover

Published 2016

ISBN: 978-1785899393

This is the memoir of Susan Sandover, a British woman who was married to a Libyan career diplomat. The book takes you through their life in the diplomat's corps during the Ghadaffi regime. After her husband's passing, Susan wades through Sharia inheritance laws and struggles to gain her inheritance. The book covers the writer's vast insider knowledge of Libya’s political, social and cultural history together with details of the final year of the Gaddafi regime. 

The writer has been featured on this blog:

A Very Important Guest Post , A Very Important Update and the first three chapters of her book.

The Libyan

By Esther Kofod

Published 2013 and 2015

ISBN: 978-0989054300

Esther Kofod was born in Singapore and schooled in Switzerland and the United States. She was a copy writer and creative director for an international advertising company in Singapore. She has travelled extensively throughout the world and lived in Libya with her Libyan husband and family for several years during Ghaddafi's reign of terror. She currently lives in Florida. 

Children of Allah - Between the Sea and Sahara

By Agnes Newton Keith

Published 1965, 1966

ASIN B002JHOFG2 

This is a memoir of Agnes Newton Keith, an American woman that lived in Libya for 9 years with her husband, Harry Keith, who worked for the FAO Mission of the United Nations. His job was to find capable young Libyans who could be trained to replant forests, revitalize oasis, and extend irrigation. Agnes Accompanied her husband on field trips to the Sahara and authored lovely stories of the people she met and the experiences she had in Libya during the reign of King Idris.

Sand in my Shoes

By Aleen Woodard

Published 1985

ASIN B000723R0Q 

This is the story of an American couple who arrived in Libya in 1963. The husband, Bob Woodward, was a pilot for Mobile Oil. Aleen stayed at home, learning about how to cope as a housewife in Libya. In the United States Aleen had been a teacher and active in scouts. While in Libya she helped to train Libyan Girl Guide Leaders. The couple lived in Libya for 9 years, experienced the evacuation of the 1967 Arab Israeli War and the military coup that brought Muamar Ghaddafi into power in 1969. The Woodward's left Libya in 1972. Illustrated with color photographs.

The Secret of the Sahara: Kufara

By: Rosita Forbes

Published 1921

ISBN: 978-1590481011

My copy is an original, reprints and eBooks are available.

In a world full of twentieth century male explorers, Rosita Forbes stood alone. The famed English woman traveled wide and far, often in perilous conditions.  She traveled by car from Kabul to Samarkand in style. In need of new adventures, the intrepid female journalist and explorer decided to penetrate the infamous wastes of the Libyan deserts. There she met and interviewed a mysterious sheikh and discovered the legendary lost city of the Sahara, Kufara.  Her book describes a classic 1920s adventure complete with a dashing Egyptian nobleman, a cast of notorious camels, and their noisome crew. And though “Secret of the Sahara” is full of the political observations and interesting interviews that made Rosita a justifiably famous travel writer, the ever-dashing English woman also regales her reader with poetic passages about the beauty of the desert world she had wandered into. The “Secrets of the Sahara” is still fresh and charming after all these years, just like its beautiful adventuress of an author (pictured below). 

Expats Travels in Arabia, From Tripoli to Tehran

By Christopher Dickey

Published 1990

ISBN: 978-0871133373

Award-winning Newsweek reporter Christopher Dickey offers an interesting look at the Arab world as seen through the eyes of some the western expatriates--lost colonels and aging explorers, oilmen, sea captains, even retired spies--lingering in the Middle East.

Remembering Libya and the Sahara

By C.M. Rhodes

Complied by Linda Rhodes Adams

Illustrated by Will Adams

Published 2011

ISBN: 978-1463511197

Remembering Libya and the Sahara is the true story of the author’s move to Tripoli, Libya where he and his family lived for four years during the “pre-Ghaddafi” era. From 1954 to 1958, C.M. Rhodes served as a missionary in a country that, 53 years later would incinerate into a hot bed of political and social upheaval, violence, and death. Mr. Rhodes’ memoir details the history of the region, customs of the Arab people, travels to explore ancient ruins and sites in surrounding cities, plus day-to-day life in a culture so different from his own it demanded a new mind-set. While living in Tripoli, Mr. Rhodes received the invitation of a lifetime – to cross the Sahara Desert by jeep as the guest of Somalia’s Vice General, Dr. Gualtiero Benardelli. That 4-week trek over a 6,000-mile stretch of sand and rock was fraught with challenges, hardships, and danger. Twice the author’s life was threatened. The diary Mr. Rhodes kept and countless photos taken along the way capture his Sahara adventure – encounters with African natives, indigenous wildlife, and breathtaking scenery. Join him for a trip down Memory Lane in an Africa that used to be.

Libya's Unknown Atrocity: A Western Woman's Fight for Justice

By: Felicity Prazak

Published 2013

ISBN: 978-1-78099-445-1

A true account of the author's search for justice following the murder of her husband, Victor Prazak, in Libya. Victor died on the 22nd of December 1992 when the passenger plane he was travelling on was brought down by a Libyan military MiG. Victor, the only Westerner on board the plane, was buried in a mass grave in the Libyan Desert without Felicity's consent. She was not even allowed to attend the burial. After nineteen years of fighting to uncover the truth, the recent uprising in Libya has brought to light the facts of the case. She is still petitioning the British government for an inquest and is involved in legal action against the Libyan state.

A Woman Who Stood Up To A Dictator: Living Under Terror

By Felicity Prazak

Published 2015

ISBN 978-1-5170-5535-6

This is the second book written by Felicity Prazak about the events thet lead to her husband's death. She outlined her battle for justice and exposes the brutal regime of Libyan colonel Muammar Gaddafi in her autobiography Living Under Terror: A Woman Who Stood Up to a Dictator. Her husband, British chemist Victor Prazak, died with 156 other passengers and crew aboard Libyan Airlines Flight LN1103, downed by a Libyan fighter jet in 1992. Told it was accidental, his widow, Felicity Prazak, wouldn’t know what actually happened for nearly two decades.

Prazak, fighting a battle for the truth by herself, receives a picture of a board hanging outside a Benghazi courthouse in 2011. The board includes a caption stating, “The Martyrs of Libyan Airline Flight Number LN1103 Which Was Shot Down by Criminal Ghaddafi Over Tripoli in 1992/12/22.” She doesn’t let the civil war raging in Libya—or the pleas of her family—sway her when she decides to travel to Benghazi and see for herself.

Once in Libya, she meets other relatives of victims and learns of the atrocities allegedly committed by Abdullah Senussi, Ghaddafi’s security chief believed to be responsible for the Flight LN1103 attack. Living Under Terror is the second book by Prazak, who continues to work tirelessly to uncover the truth.

A Cure for Serpents

By Alberto Denti Di Pirajno

First Published 1955

ISBN: 978-0-907871-44-6

This is the story of Alberto Denti, and Italian doctor who came to work in Libya in 1924. Born in 1886, he studied medicine in Florence and Rome. He ran modest dispensaries in the area of Sirte, Misda, Misrata and Buerat el Hsun. For a time he was sent to work in Eritrea but returned to Libya and became the Governor of Tripoli. He later surrendered the city to Montgomery. After the war he settled in Sicily. He dies in 1968. During his time in Libya he seemed to prefer Berbers and Eritreans to his fellow Italians. 

For the Love of Nadia

By Sarah Taylor

Published 2013

ISBN: 978-1-78219-015-8

The author, a British woman from Lancashire's life was turned upside-down when her four-year-old daughter was kidnapped by her abusive ex-husband who was from Libya. Her worst fears were confirmed when airport CCTV cameras showed her daughter boarding a flight to Libya. The book details her long, difficult journey to get her daughter back. Sarah's quest to bring her beloved daughter is described in an unfolding story of blackmail and embezzlement, the involvement of the Libyan secret police, death threats, a meeting with Colonel Ghaddafi and the intervention of Prime Minister Gordon Brown. 

The Deserts of Hesperides - An Experience of Libya

By Anthony Thwaite

Published 1969

ISBN: 978-0436539503

This book is a record of the author's life in Libya during two different periods. First and a British army conscript in Tripolitania from June 1950 to July 1951. Later as a university teacher in Cyrenaica, from September 1965 to July 1967. He settled in Benghazi with his wife and four children. Their stay ended when they left due to the June 1967 war.   

Keep Your Feet Hidden - A Sothern Belle on the Shores of Tripoli

By Laila S. Dahan

Published 2009

ISBN: 978-1-906561-84-0

Born in the Southern United States and raised during the Great Depression, Elizabeth grew up in Georgia and met and fell in love with Suleiman. They married and moved to Libya and had three children. They lived an idyllic life in Tripoli, but it ended abruptly with the military coup in 1969. The family left Libya, living in Europe and Morocco. Elizabeth still remembered her time in Libya with fond memories. She always said she wanted to write a book about her life in Libya, but never found the time. 

Elizabeth's daughter, Laila Suleiman Dahan, helped to make her mother's dream come true by taking on the challenge of chronicling her mother's stories. Laila currently lives in the Middle East with her husband and two sons. She holds higher degrees in Languages, Politics and Education and is currently a teacher in a university.

The Libyan Revolution - Diary of Qadhafi's Newsgirl in London

By Karen Dabrowska

Published 2021

ISBN 978-1-4678-8085-5

This is the memoir of Karen Dabrowska who was the London Correspondent of JANA, Libya's official news agency. The diary describes her life as correspondent and gives a unique outlook of Libya, before and during the Feb 17 Revolution. 

Notes from Hell - a Bulgarian Nurse in Libya

By Valya Chervenyashka with Nikolay Yordanov

Published 2010

ISBN 978-1920143-47-3

This is the story of Valya Chervenyashka, a nurse from Bulgaria that went to work in Libya in 1984. In 1998, she was arrested in Benghazi, accused of conspiring to infect over four hundred children with HIV. She was sentenced to death and remained in jail in Libya for a decade. She was released only after intervention from Cecilia Sarkozy who at that time was the wife of the president of France. This is Valya's story of that time. 

Tea in Tripoli - A Memoir

By Bernadette Nason

Published 2017

ISBN 9780998784809

Bernadette Nason was born in the UK. She is an award-winning actor, voiceover actor and storyteller. This is a memoir of her time working in Libya in 1984-1985. 

Nomadic Soul - My Journey from the Libyan Sahara to a Jewish Life in Los Angeles

By Ed Elhaderi with Tom Fields-Meyer

Published 2019

ISBN 9781944733827

Born and raised in the Libyan Sahara, Ed Elhaderi excelled academically and won a scholarship that took him to the United States. His horizons opened and he began encountering people from diverse backgrounds. His book, Nomadic Soul is a memoir that tells the remarkable story of how he discovered meaning, depth, and community in Judaism. His story serves as a reminder that no matter our circumstances, we each have the capacity and possibility for change, spiritual fulfillment, and to create a life beyond what we could ever imagine.

101 Arabian Tales: How We All Persevered in Peace Corps Libya

By Randolph W. Hobler

Published 2020

ISBN 9798698162193

This unique collection is compiled from in-depth interviews with 101 fellow Libyan Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. It is not the memoir of one person, but a collection of stories and anecdotes from 101 different people who were volunteers for the Peace Corps in Libya. Each experience and story is unique and gives the reader an interesting look into Libya's history and culture. There are over 200 photos. 

A Voice for Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens

By Lydie M. Denier

Published 2016

ISBN 9780997936605

This is a memoir written by the fiancé of the late Ambassador Stevens. It covers their relationship and focuses on the ambassador's commitment to his diplomatic work. It is also a quest to uncover the truth about his tragic death in in Benghazi on September 11, 2011. 

Oil Patch - Living in Oil Company Compounds from Desert to Jungle

By Gary Gentry

Published 2004

ISBN 1-4184-2447-1

This book has short stories of people who have worked in oil companies throughout the world. The book starts out with experiences in Libya. The author is an engineer who worked for over three decades in the oil industry from Libya to Indonesia and Borneo. 

Desert Encounter 

By Knud Holmboe

First Published 1931

ISBN 1-872038-10-7

Born in 1902, Knud Holmboe was a Danish journalist. He was adventurous and unconventional in nature. In 1924 he set foot for the first time in a Muslim country, Morocco and wrote a series of articles on the French war in Morocco. He spent some time in a French monastery, contemplating history and religion. He later traveled to Persia, Iraq, Turkey and the Balkans. He converted to Islam, probably during his time spent with European Muslims. He left the Balkans for colonial North Africa. His journey took him from Morocco through Algeria and Tunisia into Libya. He drove a battered Chevrolet across the northern stretch of the Sahara to Derna. Quite an interesting adventure during the Italian colonial rule of Libya. 

About my Experiences in Libya

By Leonor Massanet Arbona

Translated by Debora Middleton

Published 2013

ISBN 978-1505721201

The author, a researcher from Spain, went to the south of Libya to live with a large family to begin her immersion and observation into the personality and relationship development of children as a result of their family environment. Her thesis dealt with children of tribal families and their constant contact with many family members. She describes many aspects of Libyan family life through the eyes of a foreigner.  `

Qaddafi's Point Guard

By Alex Owumi with Daniel Paisner

Published 2013

ISBN 978-1-60961-516-1

An interesting tale of a professional basketball player from the United States that went to Libya to play on a team of the state-run athletic club. His story tells of being trapped in Benghazi when the Libyan Revolution began in the spring of 2011, his experiences during his stay and how he managed to escape. 

Gaddafi's Harem - The Story of a Young Woman and the Abuses of Power in Libya

By Annick Cojean

Published 2013

ISBN 978-0-8021-2172-1

Journalist and writer, Annick Cojean, tells the story of Soraya, a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl who was taken from her family to be used as a sex slave by Ghaddafi. The book describes the lives and experiences of many young women who were abused and raped and sexually exploited by Ghaddafi. Originally published in French and translated into English.

Annick Cojean, special correspondent for Le Monde, is one of France’s most widely admired journalists. She chairs the committee for the Prix Albert Londres, the French equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize, and won the prize herself in 1996. She is the author of several books.

My Dear Bessie - A love story in letters

By Chris Barker & Bessie Moore

Published 2015

ISBN 978-1-78211-567-0

Chris Barker was serving in the military as a signalman on the coast of Libya in North Africa in 1943. To help him get through the war, he began to write letters to his friends. One of them was Bessie Moore, a former colleague who replied to his letter. This book is a collection of their correspondence that spanned continents and years. This book was also adapted into a program on BBC Radio 4 called "My Dear Bessie". 

The Shadows of Ghadames

By Joelle Stolz (Author), Cathrine Temerson (Translator)

Originally published in French 1999

Translated 2004 and Published in English in 2006

ISBN: 978-0-440-41949-5

This book won the Mildred L. Batchelder Award, an American Library Association literary award that annually recognizes the publisher of the year's "most outstanding" children's book translated into English and published in the U.S. The Author Joelle Stolz is a French journalist that reports for Le Monde and Radio France International. This is her first children's novel. For children Grades 3 - 6.

Flowers have Thorns Too

By: Shahed AK Erhoma

Published: October 2018

ISBN 9781986968843

Shahed AK Erhoma was born in Tripoli, Libya in 1993. She is an ESL teacher that enjoys -reading, writing, and running on her treadmill. This work is a collection of over fifty poems.

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The Scent of my Skin - From Libya, London and every world I live in - Selected Poems

By Farrah Fray

Published 2017

ISBN: 978-1-911587-02-6

"Born in London to Libyan parents, Farrah Fray was uprooted from her British home and placed inside a Libyan village as a teenager. Despite her ethnicity, having become acclimatized to London life, her relocation from a busy cosmopolitan city to a rural Middle Eastern environment was a difficult transition. Returning to London after high school, Fray has become attuned to the differences in social and cultural traditions between her two homelands. In The Scent of my Skin, her debut collection of poetry, Fray documents her experience as a female living between the two countries." ~  from a book review on Ash Magazine

Under the Tripoli Sky

By Kamal Ben Hameda

Translated from French by Adriana Hunter (La compagnie des Tripolitaines)

Published in French in 2011 and in English in 2014

ISBN: 978-1-908670-16-8

Kamal Ben Hameda was born in Tripoli in 1954. He left Libya when he was in his early twenties and lived in France for a time. Currently he lives in Holland where he works as a writer and jazz musician. In 2012 the book was nominated for several literary prizes including Le Prix Ulysse and Le Prix du livre Lorientales. It is a story of pre-Ghaddafi society of the 1960s on the verge of change.

War Doctor - Surgery on the Front Line

By David Nott

Published 2019

ISBN 978-1-5098-3702-1 

For more than a quarter of a century, the author, a general and vascular surgeon consultant with the NHS, has taken unpaid leave from his job to volunteer in the world's war zones and disaster zones. His book chronicles his work in Sarajevo, Aleppo, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur, Congo, Iraq, Yemen, Gaza, Syria and of course, Libya.  He is widely acknowledged to be the most experienced trauma surgeon in the world and has set up a foundation to share his knowledge and train others in the art of saving lives under the most difficult of conditions. 

13 Hours - The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi

By Mitchell Zuckoff and the Annex Security Team

Published 2014

ISBN: 978-1-4555-8227-3

This book examines what happened in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 at the US State Department Special Mission Compound and a nearby CIA station called the Annex. The lives of four Americans, including the ambassador, Christopher Stevens were lost when the diplomatic compound was attacked. The author has written six other works of non-fiction, two of which were on the New York Times bestseller list. He is a journalism professor at Boston University. 

Libya a Modern History

By John Wright

Published 1981

ISBN: 0-8018-2767-1

This book traces th870 years of Libya's history, from 1900 to 1980. It covers the first monarchic constitution molded by the UN Commission and the military coup of 1969. Much of the book discusses the rule of Moammar Ghaddafi and his ideology and unorthodox diplomacy. The author is a writer and broadcaster on Arab and Energy Affairs. 

Historical Dictionary of Libya - African Historical Dictionaries, No 33

By Ronald Bruce St John

Published 1998

ISBN: 0-8108-3495-2

This work covers the history of Libya from the Karamanli Dynasty (1711-1835) until the Ghaddafi era of the late 1990s. The author received his B.A. in political science from Knox College and an M.A. and PH.D in international relations from the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver. He has travelled widely throughout Libya and has written other books about Libyan history, Moammar Ghaddafi and Libyan foreign policy. He has published dozens of articles and reviews on Libya and worked as a strategic planning manager for a multinational corporation. 

Chewing Gum

By MansourBushnaf

Published 2014

ISBN: 978-1-85077-272-9

This work of satire is the debut novel of a Libyan writer who was imprisoned in Libya for 10 years in the 1970s for his political activism and critical writings. It is a story that looks at a country in crisis and an individual that is alone in the center of conflicting ideologies. The author was born in Libya in 1954 and lives and works in Tripoli. He is a playwright, novelist, and essayist renowned for his award-winning satirical plays.

In the Country of Men

By Hisham Matar

Published 2006

ISBN: 978-0-385-34043-4

This highly acclaimed work has received many awards and nominations and has been translated into over twenty languages. The book provides a description of Libya under Qaddafi's reign, and a narration of ordinary people's lives as they try to survive the oppressive regime. The story follows the life of the character, Suleiman, who at the beginning of the story is a young nine-year-old boy growing up in Tripoli. 

The Return

By Hisham Matar

Published 2016

ISBN: 978-0-670-92334-2

Author Hisham Matar was a young man, age 19 when his father was kidnapped and imprisoned in Libya. He never saw his father again. After the fall of Gaddafi in 2011, he was able to return from exile to Libya. This is a memoir of his journey to find his father and rediscover his lost homeland.  

A Month in Siena

By Hisham Matar

Published 2019

ISBN: 978-0-241-98705-6

When the author was 19 years old his father was kidnapped, never to be found. In order to help him through this difficult period of his life he turned to art, particularly the paintings of Sienese School. Many years later, he spent a month in Siena. This book is about his encounter with the city and the paintings that had had such a profound effect on him for so many years.

Anatomy of a Disappearance

By Hisham Matar

Published 2011

ISBN: 978-0-385-34044-1

The story of a young boy in Cairo who is left alone with his stepmother after the mysterious disappearance of his dissident father. The writer was born in the United States to Libyan parents and spent his childhood in Tripoli and Cairo. His first novel, In the Country of Men, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the Guardian First Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, He is the winner of 6 international literary awards. His books have been translated into twenty-eight languages. Currently, he lives in London and is an adjunct associate professor at Barnard College in New York City. 

Travellers

By Helon Habila

Published 2019

ISBN: 978-0-241-98629-5

This novel centers on the experiences of African immigrants to Western Europe. The book intertwines the lives and fates of the characters, all of them looking for a better life; an academic from Nigeria, a doctor fleeing war torn Libya, a woman looking for answers to her brother's murder, a Somali shopkeeper.  Nigerian novelist, Helon Habila is the author of Oil on Water, Measuring Time, Waiting for an Angel, and The Chibok Girls. He is a professor of creative writing at George Mason University.

Voices for Libya

By Libyans and their friends from around the world

Published 2012

ISBN: 094538583-8

A collection of essays and stories from ordinary people whose lives were touched by the Libyan Revolution of February 17, 2011. The proceeds from this book are to be donated to Libyan charities to help Libyan children and their families of those who died during the conflict.

Homeless Rats

By Ahmed Fagih

Published 

ISBN: 978-0-70437-232.0

This book portrays a struggle in the Libyan desert between humans and desert rats known as jerboas as they desperately compete for scarce food during time of drought. The jerboas and other animals and insects are given voices and a hierarchy of social roles as characters in the story. Early in the novel a caravan 40 Bedouins along with the camels, dogs and donkeys move through the drought-stricken land. After 4 days they reach Mizda where they find that jerboas have stripped all the grain from the fields of barley. The hungry people discover that the jerboas have stored the grain in their underground burrows. This is the tale of the struggle between men, animals, famine, and nature. The book was published in Arabic 10 years before the English translation. The author, Ahmed Fagih is one of the most famous writers in Libya. He has served on the boards of The Arab Cultural Trust, Libya's Union of Writers and Artists and was the director of Libya's National Institute of Drama and Music. 

Tocqueville

By Khaled Mattawa

Published 2010

ISBN: 978-1-930974-90-6

Libyan poet, Khaled Mattawa was born in Benghazi in 1964, but has lived in the United States since he was a teenager. This is Khaled's fourth collection of poems. He has translated eight volumes of contemporary Arabic poetry and co-edited two anthologies of Arab American literature. He has received a Guggenheim fellowship, an NEA translation grant, the Alfred Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, the PEN American Center Poetry Translation Prize, and three Pushcart Prizes. Mattawa teaches in the MFA Program of creative writing at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

The Seven Veils of Seth

By Ibrahim Al-Koni

Published in Arabic 2003, in English 2008

ISBN: 978-1-85964-202-3

This novel, written by a Libyan Tuareg is about the ancient evil god Seth who kills his brother, the good god Osiris. Seth is also the god of the deserts and so the story takes place in the environment of the Tuareg. It is a mixture of Tuareg folklore, Egyptian mythology and European and Russian thought and literature. The author studied comparative literature in Moscow and worked as a journalist in Moscow and Warsaw. He went on to write over 50 novels, poems, stories with themes inspired by the desert and Tuareg lifestyle. He has been living in Switzerland since 1993. Some of his works have been translated into 35 languages.

Gold Dust

By Ibrahim Al-Koni

Published in Arabic 1990, in English 2020

ISBN: 978-977-416-969-4

A classic story of tribal desert life in Libya during the period of Italian colonization. The main character murders a man and is then rejected by his family and tribe. He flees across the desert with his prized camel to escape the wrath of his victim's family. He lives alone in the desert, suffering with loneliness, hunger and thirst while being haunted by jinn in the night. 

Libya: The Silent Treasures

By The General Board of Tourism

Published 1994

No ISBN number listed

This coffee table book is loaded with pictures of the culture and antiquities of Libya. Written in both English and Arabic.

Libia Antigua: Ciudadesperdidas del Imperio Romano

By Antonio Di Vita, Ginette Di Vita-Evrard, Lidiano Bacchielli

Photos by Robert Polidori

Published 1998 in Italian and 1999 in French

ISBN: 3-8290-3281-1

This is a very large coffee table book of gorgeous and detailed photographs and commentary in Italian/French about the archeological sites in Libya. I have not found a copy in English, but it is possible to use Google lens' translation feature to read the descriptions and information. 

The Fable of the Oum Bsisi: The Mouse and the Swallow, A Traditional Libyan Fable

By Laili ElOrfi

Published 2021

ISBN: 9798534906189

This beautifully illustrated children's book tells a traditional Libyan folktale that has been told to Libyan children for generations, usually by their grandparents.

Hunt for the Devil's Dragon

By Marianne Hering and Wayne Thomas Batson

Published 2013

ISBN: 978-1-58997-738-9

This work of juvenile fiction is the 11th in the Imagination Station series. The book is for children grades 2 to 7 and has a Christian theme. The story takes place in 13th century Libya. Two children, Patrick and Beth, have quite an adventure that includes dragons, Roman Knights and the 'Secret of Silene'. 

Tripoli Witness: The Remarkable First-Hand Account of Life Through the Insurgency

By Rana Jawad

Published: 2011

ISBN: 978-1-908531-13-1

Written by the BBC's North Africa correspondent who was based in Libya from 2004 to 2015. This is her account of the days prior to the Libyan revolution and the revolution itself.

The Arab of the Future: A Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984

By Riad Sattouf

Published 2014 English 2015

ISBN: 978-1-62779-344-5

This is the first book in the series. It is a graphic memoir, completely illustrated throughout. The author is a bestselling cartoonist and filmmaker who grew up in Syria and Libya. Currently he lives in France. This book covers his life in Libya and has been translated into sixteen languages. 

A Visa for Ahmad (Escape from Libya)

By Charles E. Gustafson

Published 2000

ISBN: 0-595-14523-X

Adventure awaits an American couple that are vacationing in France when meet a Libyan aircraft technician in Paris and help him to escape to the United States. The author passed away in 2012. Information about his life can be found in an online obituary here: https://trftimes.com/news/3553/charles-e-gustafson-89/amp

 

Little Brother: a refugee's odyssey

By Ibrahima Balde and Amets Arzallus Antia

Published 2019

ISBN: 978-1-951627-81-2

This is a story based on the author's life. When his father died, Ibrahima left his village in Guinea to find work to help support his family. While he was away, he learned that his brother had dropped out of school and gone to Libya with the hope of finding his way to Europe. Ibrahima set off to find him and convince him to return. His travels took him through the Sahara Desert, to Algeria, Libya, and Morocco. While in Libya he was robbed, twice imprisoned, and sold into slavery. He eventually manages to escape and secures passage across the Mediterranean where he finally found refuge in Spain.

The Gospel of Grace - Poems

By Noeme Grace C Tabor-Farjani

Published 2021

ISBN: 9798496747592

This book of poems is written by a woman who is from the Philippines and is married to a Libyan national. While living in Libya she kept the blog, Potpourri.  She has authored numerous works including Letters from Libya: Memoirs-in-Letters which was the story of her family's escape from war-torn Libya in 2014. After returning to the Philippines, she went on to complete her post graduate studies and taught translation, children's literature and drama at Capital University, and humanities at St. Mary's School in the Philippines. This book of poetry reflects her life experiences with some poems touching on her life in Libya.

The Slave Yards

By Najwa Bin Shatwan

Published in Arabic: 2016

Published in English: 2020

ISBN: 780815611257

This novel is set in Benghazi during the late 19th century. The story covers the life of the daughter of an African slave. The story offers insight into Libya's past when slavery was legal and widely practiced. The book was originally published in Arabic and has been translated into English by Nancy Roberts. The author has written several short story collections, plays and three novels. She was chosen as one of the 39 best Arab authors under the age of 40 by the Beirut39 Project of the Hay Festival. 

Catalogue of a Private Life - Short Stories

By Najwa Bin Shatwan

Translated by Sawad Hussain

Published 2018

ISBN 9781912868728

A collection of eight short stories, these fictional works give insight into Libyan lives and mindsets. The author has written four novels, short stories and plays. She has contributed to several collections and anthologies. In 2017 she was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. 

The American Way: Stories of Invasion

Edited by Orsola Casagrande & Ra Page

Published 2021

ISBN 9781912697397

This book contains a collection of short stories that were contributed by 20 different authors that explore the human cost of foreign military intervention. Libyan author Najwa Bin Shatwan is featured with a story she wrote in 2011 titled 'Grandma Saliha'. A story about the removal of Gadaffi.   

Magazines and Journals

National Geographic September 1924

Crossing the Libyan Desert { Crossing the Untraversed Libyan Desert: The Record of a 2, 200- Mile Journey of Exploration Which Resulted in the Discovery of Two Oases of Strategic Importance on the Southwestern Frontier of Egypt}

With the encouragement of King Fuad I, the author surveys an extraordinary desert route from the Mediterranean through Libya and Anglo- Egyptian Sudan to the White Nile.

National Geographic August 1925

Tripolitania, Where Rome Resumes Sway: The Ancient Trans- Mediterranean Empire, on the Fringe of the Libyan Desert, Becomes a Promising Modern Italian Colony Though under Italian military control, a diverse population perpetuates traditions beyond a modern harbor and main streets.

National Geographic June 1930

Cirenaica, Eastern Wing of Italian Libia

Thwarted by the Libyan Desert to the south, Italian administrators in Libia (Libya) focus on this fertile coastal region as the foundation for future prosperity.

National Geographic December 1940

Old- New Battle Grounds of Egypt and Libia

Site of conflict for centuries, northern Egypt and Libia (Libya) are once again a stage for struggle. This time, Britain and Italy fight for control of the Suez Canal.

National Geographic January 1943

Eastward from Gibraltar: Overland Route Across North Africa to Tunisia and Libia

Busy marketplaces, mules, mosques, palaces, and a railroad characterize the North African towns and cities of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libia (Libya).

National Geographic February 1982

Egypt’s Desert of Promise: Underground water may seem someday green half a million acres of the Western Desert, driest part of the Sahara. Geologist Farouk El- Baz and photographer George Gerster report on the strategic wasteland between Libya and the Nile.

National Geographic November 2000

Libya: An Inside Look After 30 Years of Isolation {Libya: An End to Isolation? }

After three decades of international isolation, the nation works to shed its outlaw image.

National Geographic February 2013

New Old Libya: Libyans lived under a dictator who twisted their past. Now they must imagine their future.

World Archaeology Magazine - June/July 2011

Issue 47, Vol. 4 No. 11

Libya Culture Clash: What happened when the Roman west squared up to the Hellenic east. - Philip Kenrick

Sirte Basin: Libyan Uprisings: Conflict in Libya has deep roots, and it has the archaeology to prove it. - Nadia Durrani

Harper's Magazine - September 1913

By Caravan Through the Libyan Desert (Illustrated with photographs) - Daniel T. MacDougal Ph.D, LL.D

This is it so far. Keep checking back - the list is always growing!

Have you written a book about Libya and would like to see it here? 

If you send me a copy (signed is always nice!) I'll be happy to add it to my collection. 

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