Mubarkah Bent al-Barra

Mubarkah Bent al-Barra (first name sometimes given as Batta; sometimes Mbarka Mint al-Barra') (born 1957) is a Mauritanian poet and translator.

Biography

Al-Barra was born in al-Madhardhara, and studied in public schools before graduating with a degree in education from the Teachers High Institute of Nouakchott in 1983. In 1987 she received an MA in Maghrebi and Andalusian literatures from Mohammed V University. She teaches in the Teachers High Institute. Al-Barra is bilingual in Arabic and French, but writes mainly in the former.

Al-Barra has extensively researched the oral poetry of Mauritania; more specifically, she has studied the tibra, a form of love poem whose recitation is restricted to all-female gatherings. Some of these she has translated into French. Her collection Taranimli-Watanin Wahid (Songs for a Country for All) was published in 1992, and Al-Shi'r al-Muritani al-Hadith, min 1970 ila 1995 (Modern Mauritanian Poetry, 1970-1995) was published in 1998. Some of her poetry has been anthologized in English. She also published a children's book, Hikayat Jaddati (My Grandmother's Tales), in 1997, and was co-editor of a volume of folktales as well. Al-Barra is prominent in Mauritanian cultural life, and has frequently attended literary festivals elsewhere in the Arab world.