Bushra al-Maqtari ( Arabic: بشرى المقطري; born 1979) is a Yemeni writer and activist. She came to prominence as an anti-government protest leader in her hometown of Taiz during the 2011 Yemeni Revolution. As a writer, she is best known for her 2012 novel Behind the Sun and her 2018 nonfiction work What You Have Left Behind: Voices from the Land of the Forgotten War.

Bushra al-Maqtari was born in 1979 in Taiz, Yemen. ^{[1] [2]} She spent some of her childhood in Saudi Arabia, where her father worked in construction. ^{[3] [4] [5]} They were forced to leave in 1990, when a million Yemenis were expelled amid tensions between the two countries. ^[3]

Maqtari studied history at Taiz University, graduating with a bachelor's degree. ^{[2] [6]}

Maqtari is known for her work as a writer and activist. Her writing often focuses on the Yemeni Revolution and leftist politics in Yemen. ^[6] She is considered a rare progressive, female voice in Yemen's conservative society. ^[3] In response to her work, Yemeni clerics issued a fatwa against her and called for her to be excommunicated in January 2012. ^{[3] [7] [8]} Protesters issued online threats against her and marched on her home. ^[7]

Maqtari published her first book, the prose collection The Furthest Reaches of Pain, in 2003. ^[1] She has written for both Arabic and English-language publications including The New Arab and the New York Times. ^{[1] [3] [6]} In 2011, while covering a protest as a freelance reporter for the Mareb Press, she was injured by a grenade. ^[9]

In 2011, she became a leader in anti-government protests during the Yemeni Revolution. ^{[3] [10]} The New York Times described her as "one of the first and most fearless leaders of the movement." ^[11] Notably, she helped lead a protest march known as the "March for Life" from Taiz to Sanaa. ^{[2] [3]}

She published her first novel, Behind the Sun, in 2012. ^{[1] [6]} The book focuses on forced disappearances in Yemen. ^{[3] [4]} The following year, she was chosen as a participant in the International Prize for Arabic Fiction Nadwa, ^{[1] [5] [12]} and was given the Françoise Giroud Award for Defense of Freedom and Liberties. ^{[6] [13]}

Her next book was 2015's South Yemen Under the Left, co-written with Fawwaz Traboulsi, which details the history of the Yemeni Socialist Party. ^{[3] [6] [13] [14]} This was followed in 2018 by her book What You Have Left Behind: Voices from the Land of the Forgotten War, described as an "impassioned raw account of the displaced, widowed and orphaned survivors of Yemen's war." ^{[3] [6]} The nonfiction work, which tells the stories of 43 different families, is based on her reporting across the country during the Yemeni Civil War. ^{[4] [13]} It was published in English by Fitzcarraldo Editions, ^[15] with a PEN Translates award-winning translation by Sawad Hussain. ^{[16] [17]}

In 2020, she was awarded the Johann Philipp Palm Award for Freedom of Speech and the Press, in honor of her work as an activist in Yemen. ^{[6] [13] [18]}

As an academic, Maqtari worked at Taiz University ^[11] and founded a historical research center in the city. ^[2] She later became a researcher at the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies. ^[6] She has served on the executive board of the Yemeni Writers Union [ ar] ^{[1] [5]} and as a member of the Central Committee of the Yemeni Socialist Party. ^[2]

She continues to live and work in Yemen, despite offers for her to emigrate to France and Sweden. ^[3]

Maqtari's first marriage ended in divorce. ^[11] She later married Sadeq Ali Ghanem. ^[13]

• Excerpt from Bushra al-Maqtari's book "What you have left behind", translated to English by Sawad Hussain
• Interview with translator Sawad Hussain about translating trauma on ArabLit magazine