Achmed Abdullah
Achmed Abdullah, born in 1881 in Yalta, Crimea, has a diverse heritage with a Russian Orthodox father related to Czar Nicolas II and an Afghan Muslim mother. His early life was marked by cultural shifts, as his parents divorced, leading him to be raised in Afghanistan by his maternal grandparents. Abdullah received a broad education in prestigious institutions, including Eton and Oxford, and developed an early interest in writing, publishing poetry and a monograph on Bantu dialects. He served as an officer in the British Army, which enabled him to travel extensively across various regions, including India and Tibet, though he wrote little during this time. Upon settling in the United States, Abdullah focused on writing, creating Hollywood scripts and short stories for pulp magazines, often drawing from his rich life experiences. His work frequently featured exotic locales and diverse characters, reflecting his own multicultural background. Abdullah later converted to Roman Catholicism, married twice, and spent his final years in New York City before passing away on May 12, 1945.
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Achmed Abdullah
Author
- Born: 1881
- Birthplace: Yalta, Crimea
- Died: May 12, 1945
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
Achmed Abdullah was born in 1881 in Yalta, in the Crimea, to a Russian father and an Afghan mother. Although the future author never revealed his birth name, it is widely believed to be Alexander Nicholayevitch Romanoff. Later, he would also call himself Achmed Abdullah Nadir Khan el-Durani el Iddrissyeh.
This divergence of culture gave Abdullah an air of mystery and romance that served his later fiction well. His Russian Orthodox father was cousin to Czar Nicolas II, the last czar of Russia. His mother, an Afghan princess, was Muslim. Abdullah’s mother divorced his father for reasons of infidelity and took the children back to Afghanistan, where they were raised by their maternal grandparents. He was raised as a Muslim, and educated in India and France. At age 12, he attended Eton School, going on to Oxford and then to the University of Paris.
From an early age, Abdullah showed an interest in writing, though not in popular fiction. While still in school, Abdullah privately published his first work, a book of poems. He also wrote a monograph of Bantu dialects.
After these two works, Abdullah joined the British Army in 1900, serving as an officer. He traveled the world once more, spending time in India, China, Tibet, and the Near East. While collecting experiences that would later appear in his works, Abdullah did not write much during his army days.
It wasn’t until he decided to settle down in the United States that he began to write more and garner attention for his work. Abdullah wrote a number of Hollywood scripts for the biggest names of the day and is most often remembered for his screen work and the novelizations of famous films.
He used the name Achmed Abdullah for his short stories, which routinely appeared in pulp magazines and novels. Many of his adventures were set in exotic locales or featured foreigners who came to the United States. Abdullah dipped into his own experiences to write about these people.
The author spent his last years in New York City, where he converted to the Roman Catholic faith. He was married twice, first to Jean Wick, who passed away in 1939, and then to Rosemary Dolan in 1940. Abdullah died on May 12, 1945.