The Tribe by Michael Mohammed Ahmad

JUDGES' COMMENTS

The three linked long stories in The Tribe enter the intimate home life of a Lebanese–Australian family in western Sydney. Narrated by a son of the large extended family, they recall incidents (domestic tensions, a wedding, a death) from his childhood — ‘but it feels like right now’. Indeed, Michael Mohammed Ahmad creates a deceptively simple blend of immediacy, naivety and authorial knowingness through scenes that are rich with realistic detail, empathy and humour.

One of an impressive new generation of writers of immigrant background, Ahmad portrays a part of society and outer-suburban life that have been newsworthy yet little understood. This family belongs to a small Muslim sect, and is shaped by a variety of religious, cultural and generational pressures. But this is not sociology, it is a group portrait of complex individuals written in lively colloquial language with a dash of grandeur that situates them with dignity in the history of humankind.