The Qatari Forum for Authors broadcast on Tuesday evening a new session of the writer and book sessions that are held weekly through the Microsoft Teams program to introduce new writers and discuss their books. The session hosted the young Qatari writer, Muhammad Ahmad Al Shuraim, and was moderated by Mr. Saleh Gharib, Program Director at the Forum.
The writer presented his collection of stories “One-Third Waiting Hour” issued by Rosa Publishing House in 2018 The book contains 96 pages divided into 13 short stories in various and varied topics that, in their entirety, focus on the importance of time and share three basic elements, which are time, place and tyranny.
The owner of “one-third waiting hour ” considered that his collection of stories is simple in its presentation and deep in its meanings and interpretations, where he put in it part of his soul and his experience in life and included in it some of the philosophical dimensions of life and sought to be interactive stories and chose words carefully to good meanings.
In every story, he was trying to address the reader and approach him and embrace him through his words and events that, despite the time and place being defined, do not go beyond the limits to embrace human feelings in their broad and general dimension.
The first story in the story group was titled “North .. South” about the residents ’attachment to the roundabout of chance (Sudfah) in the city of Al-Wakrah and its importance to the city’s residents and road users who had a close relationship with it and became part of their day and of their lives and formed a strong emotional relationship with it, and despite the simplicity of the story, it has deep meanings, and the most important of which is that love has many meanings, manifestations and aspects, and is not limited to love of people.
Among the short stories is the story of “my beautiful secret” that he wrote while he was in a youth council with his friends, where he linked the meeting with the beautiful secret, considering that each person has a beautiful secret that he hides from everyone.
Regarding the story of “the date of departure”, the writer considered it a story lived by everyone and shared by people in various parts of the world, who did not experience the pain of leaving a loved one or a place dear to his heart, and the writer raised this topic in the form of questions about the date of departure after life with the partner had become impossible.
As for the story “I miss you so much”, which he started writing since 2015, it collected three stories he wrote in different times and places, and it expressed the experiences of young people and the friendship that binds them from the sea, which has become not just a place but a refuge in times of trouble. You can address him and reveal the hidden things in front of him, just as you cannot do in front of a person.
Among the stories that came in this collection was the story of “There” which he wrote in Jordan on a cliff of a mountain and was inspired by the place. Despite the precise location of the events, the writer tried to make this story transcend place and time and touch the reader’s feelings wherever he is. The writer tried to make this story transcend the place and time and touch the reader’s feelings wherever he is. Just changing the place makes the reader feels that the story applies to him and talks about it as its subject matter simulates the feelings and the soul.
All these stories address the hidden and fluctuating feelings in each person. This is why the writer asked his readers to read them more than once and in different psychological and emotional states to find parts of their experiences, personalities and life events between the lines of each story, and the writer sought to make his relationship with his readers interactive and continuous, even the dedication in the beginning of the story is directed to the reader who has become a part of the writer’s life and close to him by simply reading the book that reveals the secrets of his soul and mind.
The young writer mentioned that he changed the title of the story collection four times to come back at the end and settle on the first title that collects sub-headings, where he found that it is the most expressive of the topics of the stories, some of which came in the form of questions or thoughts, but all of them ultimately in the field of self-development, even In the conclusion of the story collection, he addressed a word to the reader, saying, “I would love for these words to be close to me and to you”.
Regarding his future projects, Al Shuraim said that he is preparing to issue a new novel consisting of short stories in the field of self-development, which is a new experience. Therefore, in the current stage, he focuses on intensifying his readings in various fields to expand horizons and develop his writings, noting that he welcomes useful criticism that is far from frustration.