Shihab Jamal
Drafts in Drawers

Drafts in Drawers is a literary project for young writers at the beginning of their career in Yemen. It focuses on exploring, printing, and publishing high quality literary works and aims at encouraging and supporting writers through post-writing processes, from editing to publication and distribution. And finally, creating links with readers and funders of literature works. In 2023, a competition was held among young authors, as part of which two short stories collections were produced.

The project’s main goal is to encourage and support young writers at the beginning of their career by financing the printing and publishing of their literary works, as most writers cannot afford to print their works, due to the closure of publishing houses and the economic collapse resulting from the ongoing war.

© Goethe Institut - Jordan Shihab Jamal grew up in Sana’a, Yemen, where he currently lives with his family. He graduated from the Faculty of Mass Communication at Future University in 2018. Over time, he developed a deep interest in science, art and literature. Shihab works as a science writer and published stories in Nature Magazine. He organizes a regular literature event held every month at Basement Cultural Foundation in Sana’a.   

Favourite Moment
"I experienced moments one cannot forget at the closing event of the project at which the produced books were presented, discussed, and distributed. After long months of hard work in discovering and examining literary works through an open competition, followed by months of editing, printing and distribution, I witnessed the fruits of our efforts: seeing authors being joyful while presenting their stories, witnessing hundreds of guests flocking to the event to get copies of books, and others struggling to reach their turn to pick up the microphone and ask critical questions to the authors.