Journalist Elzahraa Jadallah is the new ICORN resident in Larvik
In June 2024, Sudanese journalist and writer Elzahraa Jadallah arrived in Norway and took up the ICORN residency in Larvik, where she has continued her work. As an outspoken investigative journalist, addressing controversial topics, Jadallah faced harassment, threats, and even arrests by Sudanese authorities, as well as persecution from other groups and individuals.
Elzahraa Jadallah is a journalist and a writer from Sudan who currently works as the Deputy English Editor of Ayin Network (3ayin),an independent platform that covers Sudan’s affairs. Prior to her current position, she mainly worked as a freelance journalist for The Niles from 2016 to 2022, a project that covered water and environmental issues in the Nile Basin.
Fluent in both Arabic and English, she has covered a wide range of topics related to Sudan and the Nile Basin for various media outlets. In the early years of her career, her work focused on culture,literature and art, then environmental issues, as well as women’s and children’s rights among other social issues.
Jadallah started her career in 2014 by publishing several short stories in local newspapers, shortly before working as a freelancer covering artistic and social topics for the Sudan Vision Daily.In the years that followed, she freelanced as a translator for national platforms as the Ashorooq website, and as a writer/editor for AlSamra magazine. Additionally, she occasionally contributed to newspapers such as Al-Tayyar.
While freelancing for The National website, Jadallah covered the events of the Sudanese revolution against former president Omar Al-Bashir between December 2018 and February 2019. She also worked for the7D News website between 2018 to 2020 and published in-depth reports/investigations related to environmental issues on the Infonile platform.
Her investigative journalism has addressed complex and sensitive issues related to Sudan and the region. For instance, her 2019article, ‘The Dark Side of Sudan's Oil’, explored the health and environmental impacts of the oil industry in Sudan. Another notable example is her 2021piece, ‘The White Dam: A Tale of Big Ambitions and Big Problems’, which examined the challenges faced by a major development project and its effects on the surrounding community. The publication of her investigative work led to threats and harassment from the authorities.
In addition to her journalism, in 2021 Jadallah co-authored a media handbook for journalists,researchers and policy makers that are interested in working on science communication for water peace and cooperation. She has received training and worked with several international organizations, including participating in the UNLEASH program on global sustainable development goals in 2019, digital training with Reuters, and the Reham al-Farra Memorial Journalism Fellowship from the United Nations.
For more information on Elzahraa Jadallah’s work,please access her portfolio.
Larvik ICORN City of Refuge
The Norwegian town of Larvik joined ICORN in 2018. Since then, Larvik has hosted three writers and journalists- Palestinian writer and activist Wesam Almadani (2018-2020), Iranian journalist and women’s rights activist Moloud Hajizadeh (2021-2023), and Sudanese journalist Elzahraa Jadallah (2024-2026).
The ICORN programme in Larvik is managed and coordinated by Larvik Library which also provides office space for the city’s ICORN residents.
