Nala Forum: A Tribute to Short Story Writers, Revisiting Their Journeys and Showcasing Their Works

Yemenat 

Hani Al-Haji

For more than fifty years, Khaled Al Yousef has been closely connected to the Saudi short story, writing about it and following its development. At the same time, he has worked to preserve the memory of this literary form, documenting its different stages and generations through the dictionaries and anthologies he has published.

He has brought together the scattered pieces of the Saudi short story, documenting the names of its writers, their publications, and the changes the genre has gone through across its different stages and generations. Because of this, the name of Khaled Al Yousef has become familiar to anyone who wants to explore the history of the Saudi short story or follow its development. In fact, his relationship with the short story has gone beyond documentation. Whenever a short story writer publishes a new collection, they are often keen to make sure it reaches Khaled Al Yousef, so that it can become part of the new work he follows and documents. Likewise, any researcher or critic returning to the Saudi short story will eventually come across the books, dictionaries, and anthologies Al Yousef has produced.

Al Yousef has continued to search for, follow, and document everything published in the field of the short story, constantly adding new material to what he has collected over the years. Alongside this work, he has his own experience as a short story writer and has written critically about the genre. For those interested in the short story, Khaled Al Yousef is therefore no longer simply a name in the history of the Saudi short story. He has become part of its archive and memory.

He wrote short stories, wrote about them, and preserved their archive. Over time, the Saudi short story became closely connected with the name of Khaled Al Yousef, and an important part of his literary journey became the preservation of the archive and memory of the short story itself.